The current heat wave we are experiencing throughout the state has resulted in an exponential rise in our electricity cost. The heat wave is projected to last into next week and campus constituents are urged to be aware of electricity usage in their offices, labs, residence halls and other spaces. Georgia College purchases electricity on an hourly basis, and those hourly prices are projected to increase by 400 percent to 800 percent during the peak hours of 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. This translates to an additional $12,000 in cost each day.
We ask that you look around your place of work or residence and turn off anything that will not be needed for immediate use. Consider turning off lighting if you have windows which can provide natural light. If you need light, please try to turn it off when you leave your office. Lighting, in particular, produces a double savings of electricity when it is turned off, because less heat is added to the work space and therefore less cooling is required. We also ask that if you have a thermostat in your area, to set the temperature to 75 F. Additionally, turn off computers, monitors, printers, copier machines, lab instruments and other equipment as you leave for the day. All of these activities will help tremendously.
Facilities Operations will do its part by turning off classroom lighting when not needed, turning off individual AC units where possible in unused spaces and shutting down hot water pumps and equipment where feasible. If Facilities Operations staff members attempt to turn off lighting or AC equipment in areas where it needs to remain on, please inform them of the need and they will gladly accommodate the requirement.
If you work in a building that is lightly occupied after 3 p.m., please use the contact information below and we can work on relocating those remaining employees to the library or another facility. This will allow us to reduce the cooling provided to that building.
Those of us in the Georgia College Department of Facilities Operations would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your cooperation and understanding in this matter. When we work together to take basic steps to conserve energy, we enable the university to save money that can be directed to more pressing needs which serve the academic, research and outreach mission.
If you have comments or questions, please do not hesitate to call/email the following contacts:
• Mark Duclos, director of Facilities Operations, 478-445-6546, mark.duclos@gcsu.edu
• Lori Strawder, assistant director for Sustainability, 478-445-7016, lori.strawder@gcsu.edu
Mark Duclos
Director Facilities Operations
478-445-5829
Georgia College Green Initiative 