News

ND Works staff writer

From the stadium to the Snite, the academic warhorses O’Shaughnessy, Nieuwland and Hesburgh Library, and twins Grace and Flanner Halls, the University is improving lighting and some heating and air conditioning in 24 older buildings during the current academic year. These renovations, costing about $4 million, will reduce the University’s carbon emissions by over 4,000 metric tons a year.

“I don’t think in my career here at the University we’ve ever gone and done a renovation specifically aimed at energy conservation before,” says Paul Kempf, director of the Department of Utilities. “When we do an overall renovation, we include the efficiency upgrades, but these older buildings would have waited up to 25 years for an overall renovation. There will be a six- to seven-year payback for this project, but we’re not doing it strictly for the economics. We’ll be reducing our carbon footprint.”

One feature that will be helpful to faculty and staff: Many of the changes involve sensors that will adjust the temperature and air intake and turn off lights when the buildings are unoccupied.

The renovations are one of several ongoing efforts being spearheaded by the Office of Sustainability, which opened its doors last spring and whose activities are conducted by three full-time staff and four student interns. The office Web site green.nd.edu will provide updates about broad-sweeping University initiatives. It also will serve as a resource for individuals—students, faculty, staff or alumni—who want to commit to the community’s sustainability program.

For staff, for example, the site reminds users to recycle, set computers to “stand by” or “hibernate” when not in use; photocopy on two sides of recycled copy paper and give up bottled water in favor of a sip from a good, old-fashioned water cooler.

Several events planned during September have been designed to build momentum for supporting an ecologically aware campus, including the annual ND Forum at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24 in the Joyce Center, featuring a dialogue among a panel representing the sustainability views of business, government and nonprofits.

The Notre Dame Energy Center and Student Advisory Board, which is sponsoring a number of student-centered events this month, is encouraging the entire campus to turn its lights off concurrent with the forum. Their goal is a “lights out” from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 24.