Energy and Greenhouse Gas

Thanks to an intrepid team of mid-evening adventurers, the enthusiasm of the building manager, and 77 new compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), Harvard’s Expository Writing building on Prescott Street has entered a future of big savings. The light bulb switch took less than an hour to complete and will save the University thousands of dollars in the years to come.

The use of -80F freezers is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions on campus.

Harvard Real Estate Services, in conjunction with Harvard Parking Services, has placed two 10 kW wind turbines atop the Soldiers Field Park Garage. After almost two years in planning stages, the structures were at last erected and set spinning on a bright day in September, 2009.

The Center for Health & the Global Environment (CHGE) at Harvard Medical School has been active in greening its office practices through the Harvard Office for Sustainability’s Green Office Certification Program.

Harvard University has spent a considerable amount of effort developing its Green Building Guidelines, a set of building design standards for projects over 5 million dollars requiring the use of particular materials and power efficiency levels to ensure that all future construction projects meet certain sustainability benchmarks.

The University banded together during the August heat wave to significantly reduce energy consumption.

The Inn at Harvard has officially been approved as an ENERGY STAR building and is listed on the ENERGY STAR website. The ENERGY STAR label is a nationally recognized standard of excellence in energy performance. It signifies that a building is doing its part to fight global warming by using less energy than its peers.

During the summer of 2009, Transportation Services installed efficient lighting fixtures and sensors within 10 University parking garages and at the Fleet Management facility at 155 North Harvard Street. The project is expected to conserve significant amounts of electricity and save approximately $400K a year.

FAS is giving out free timers for energy conservation within its buildings. In order for us to evaluate whether to give you a timer, please fill out basic information about your idea in the following simple form!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHpNbEdwZEpjbWNHaGVPXzNv...

Engineering and Utilities (E&U) is providing the University with a powerful new tool to better manage energy consumption. New hardware, software, and metering are being installed to offer real-time energy usage information which will ultimately enable building operators to improve the efficiency of their buildings.