BY TOM ROBINSON
CAMPUS ENERGY
HOGS TURN
GREEN PLANS
BLACK AND BLUE
veryone loves to boast Existing buildings leave institution-wide carbon mitigation goals,
E
about new lean, green campuses red-faced, not green you have two choices. Bulldoze all exist-
LEED-certifi ed classroom On college campuses, buildings account ing buildings and build new ones in their
buildings. Less is said about for 60 percent of electricity usage and place! Or retrofi t using standards pub-
their porky cousins. Th e 30 to 40 percent of greenhouse gas emis- lished by the American Society of Heat-
real energy hogs on campus sions. New buildings built to LEED or ing, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning
are the existing buildings, Green Globes standards can reduce that Engineers (ASHRAE) , Energy Star, or
the laboratories and the energy consumption by 40 to 50 percent. LEED for Existing Building Operations
athletics department. Why Unfortunately, new construction is a tiny & Maintenance (EBM&O).
are they so gluttonous? portion of the total picture. In the 1950s and 60s, energy consump-
What can be done to slim down their energy Existing buildings make up 95 percent tion was mostly ignored. In the 1970s oil
consumption? of the buildings on campuses. To meet embargoes and escalating energy costs
spawned the practice of sealing buildings
with revolving doors and narrow and in-
operable windows. Th e objective was to
William & Mary’s
heat or cool the air just once and lock it
Wren Hall (circa 1695)
in place. Unfortunately for occupants,
is the oldest college
indoor air quality deteriorated with the
building in the United
lack of ventilation. And most advantages
States.
of bright airy interior spaces were lost. For
example ASHRAE studies have conclud-
ed that fresh air and lower temperatures
can improve classroom learning produc-
tivity and help retain teachers.
While no two buildings and their
uses are exactly alike, Trane’s vice presi-
dent for the education market, Bill Har-
ris, says there can be a common approach
to solutions. It starts with benchmarking.
Measure the current performance of the
old building, and compare that to a high
effi ciency building, then set goals. Th e
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