Laboratories and hallways are already dimmer. Energy-sucking equipment is being replaced. And all planned campus construction is being re-examined to further improve energy efficiency.

These measures are part of ongoing efforts to save even more power at UC Davis, where energy bills are skyrocketing. In a typical academic year, the campus will spend $10 million to $12 million on power. This year, the price tag is at $22 million and may climb higher, according to Facilities Services.

Over the last decade UC Davis reduced campus energy consumption by 15 percent in its more than 1,000 buildings. Reducing energy use by another significant percentage or boosting the capacity of the campus’s co-generation plant are now options under consideration — but those measures are not easy or cheap.

"We have done most of the simplest reductions," said Charles Kennedy, assistant facilities director responsible for campus power. "What we have now are significant infrastructure needs. We have to overcome the way some campus buildings and facilities were constructed 30 and 40 years ago or more."

For example, most main campus buildings are cooled by chilled water that runs in a loop through the campus. This system is the most energy-efficient way to cool a large number of buildings, and once buildings are cooled there is no real cost saving in turning up the thermostat. And on some hot days, that cool water can’t be tempered with steam to moderate the temperatures – the reason some frigid buildings force occupants into sweaters during the summer.

In some campus buildings entire floors must be lit – even if only one person is working there – because of older electrical systems, state of the art in their time, but that don’t accommodate the flexibility needed in today’s energy environment.

Facilities Services has intensified the energy audit that surveys each building on campus and makes additional recommendations for reductions in power. Facilities energy auditors are also available to consult on energy usage, and to respond to requests to diminish lighting.

Facilities’ energy experts have identified major improvements that would significantly improve the way the campus uses and distributes energy, but implementing them would cost at least $12 million by conservative estimates.

One redesign already under way is a $400,000 project to improve the campus’s energy monitoring and metering system, so that it will be easier to measure power use by building and campus user.

Also planned is a master control system that would allow the campus to control the heating and cooling systems of individual buildings. This improvement would cost $500,000 in funds now earmarked for deferred maintenance. But plans to upgrade all of the campus buildings so that they have individual digital climate controls would cost a minimum of $10 million. To install digital climate control in the Chemistry Annex building alone, for example, would cost $500,000.

The campus electrical distribution system is also being improved at a cost of $650,000. This would allow for monitoring, measuring and controlling the electrical consumption of individual buildings.

To prevent the need for this type of significant retrofitting in the future, the campus Office of Architects and Engineers is re-examining its building guidelines for all campus construction. Already, new buildings erected in the past decade have had state-of-the-art energy conservation systems that go beyond state building requirements.

"We have spent a lot of effort already on building with more efficient materials, but there are still things we can look at with respect to design," said Robert Strand, the campus architect. "Are thin buildings with lots of windows and exterior space energy hogs or energy saving? Or are big buildings with central atriums more efficient for heating and cooling?"

In addition to the specific conservation measures, new ways of generating energy on campus are being explored by an Energy Advisory Committee appointed by Jill Blackwelder, associate vice chancellor for facilities. Solar and photovoltaic power is being considered for new and existing campus buildings. Also being studied is biomass energy conversion that might use crop or animal refuse to create power.

The campus co-generation plant, which had been shut down for cost reasons due to soaring natural gas prices, also is being brought back on line. The plan is able to produce 2.8 megawatts of power, still just a fraction of the peak summer time use demand on campus of 34 megawatts (a megawatt is enough power for 1,000 homes).

The co-generation plant has already been drawn into use on Stage III power alert days, in compliance with an order from Gov. Gray Davis that all available power resources be deployed in such an emergency.