Sustainability Initiatives
Electricity
- Installed occupancy sensors in areas of the Quads, Holden Hall, Reno Hall, Shiple Hall, Public Safety, CHP, Facility Operations, Law Library, McNichols Library Teaching & Learning Center, Student Center, Dental School, and Calihan Hall.
- Updated lighting fixtures with lamps that use less energy.
- Adjusted lighting levels by installing multi-level switching and decreasing the number of lamps in a fixture. For example, in a three-lamp fluorescent light, there may be two functioning bulbs and one strategically off, marked with a green sticker.
- Installed solar panels on Engineering Building to provide additional power to McNichols electrical grid and hands-on education in alternative energy.
Water
- Installed automatic faucets and low-flow fixtures to save water in restrooms throughout McNichols Campus.
- Installed restricted shower valves in all Residence Halls to save on water consumption.
- Conservation of water in the Fountain by chemically treating rather than draining to perform maintenance.
HVAC
- Utilize UDM's Energy Management System to continually regulate building temperatures to keep occupants comfortable while minimizing energy consumption.
- Schedule regular testing of our boilers to ensure they are performing at high efficiency levels to save natural gas.
- Maintain roofs and updating with added insulation and cool roof technology, to retain heat in the winter and reflect heat in the summer.
- Upgrade windows with more efficient designs- most recently in Holden Hall, Shiple Hall, and Chemistry Building.
Recycling
- Recycle or repurpose office furniture and equipment, scrap metal, batteries, paper, toner cartridges, etc.
- Reroof our historic buildings with a majority of the same sustainable clay roofing tiles from the original construction, thereby greatly reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.
