With higher natural gas rates this season and the clear environmental benefit to using less energy, UC Davis will cool things down in some buildings this holiday period.

Kathleen Moore, interim associate vice chancellor for Facilities, Operations and Maintenance, said the campus plans to save energy by reducing the thermostat to 60 degrees for 30 to 40 buildings. This will take place from Friday, Dec. 24, through Sunday, Jan. 2.

So far, some of the buildings designated for thermostat reductions include Mrak Hall, North Hall, Wellman Hall, Voorhies Hall, the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, the Human Resources Administration Building and Kemper Hall (EU2).

Academic and administrative leaders are providing input on whether other buildings may be cooled down -- this list may be known in the next week or so.

One reason for urgency, said Chris Cioni, the associate director for utilities, is the price of natural gas, which has risen dramatically in recent months and is higher than was anticipated.

Campus Human Resources is working with the unions regarding the 2004-05 UC Bonus Leave Program for represented employees. Under the plan, most employees will get days off on Dec. 28 and 29.

Cioni noted the safety importance of maintaining some exterior lighting around buildings. Additionally, some buildings used for research have special energy needs.

"Our obligation to protect animal welfare and sensitive research is first and foremost when applying conservation measures," Cioni said.

Beyond holiday conservation efforts, Cioni and his unit aim to raise awareness campus wide about conservation. In the months ahead, they will hire students part-time to tout conservation throughout the campus. "The students are the ones who come into the most contact with people," Cioni said.

He said such conservation efforts the past couple of years have helped the campus meet its energy needs and keep costs down. Beyond shifting around peak hour usage, progress has been made to reduce office lights and office equipment usage, among other measures.

The campus has three sources of electrical power. The primary source is the Western Area Power Administration. If the university's demands exceed its WAPA supply, Davis can purchase the balance from PG&E. In addition, the university can generate about 2.8 megawatts (MW) with its own on-campus co-generation equipment.

Most but not all campus heating and cooling systems are powered by steam and chilled water produced at the campus Central Heating and Cooling Plant, which runs primarily on natural gas rather than electricity.

Conservation spotlight

Since daylight savings time ended, the campus has installed bright light bulbs in some lamps on campus, including on the north side of Mrak and in the dark stretch that angles off from Mrak above the arboretum toward First Street.

Cioni said the bulbs are not the compact fluorescent type that one might install in place of conventional bulbs, as the compact fluorescents aren't appropriate in that application. However, the new fixtures being installed are much more effective because the light is directed downward.

"In general, a greater area can be illuminated from an equivalent number of fixtures, though the benefits are difficult to quantify in terms of energy usage," he said.

That's just an example, Cioni noted, of campus efforts to improve lighting and energy efficiency. UC Davis is involved in a technology pilot program sponsored by the California Energy Commission that encourages design innovation by funding the cost of equipment and installation for promising new technology.

Cioni said the university recently submitted an application for funding to the energy commission that would enable to campus to provide low-energy lighting for stairwells, bathrooms and new building-mounted fixtures that reflect light downward and over a greater area than conventional light fixtures.

Another initiative that the campus may consider is a software product that can be used to globally apply the energy saving settings for personal computers on campus, Cioni said.

"Individuals have the ability to enable these features through the PC operating system," he said. "However, it is not certain that these are being implemented widely or consistently."

Computer monitors typically use more than half of the total energy required by a PC, Cioni said, so the number of devices potentially affected by this software is significant on a campus like Davis.

"This new software tool would allow network administrators to enable the energy settings remotely and also assist us in quantifying energy savings," he said.