Did you know? During the summer months, Ontarians experience approximately 15 “peak energy” days, when energy is in the greatest demand. The amount of energy we use on these days typically drives a very large portion of the overall energy costs for the University. And a significant amount of the energy generated to meet this additional load comes from more emissions-intensive gas plants. As such, every action we can do to lower energy consumption during these peak times has a significant impact for Waterloo on both energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Today, due to the high temperature and efforts to stay cool, is expected to be a peak energy day.
How you can help: The Green IT committee invites you to help reduce energy demand by considering the implementation, typically between the hours of 3:00 and 8:00 p.m., of one or more of the following strategies:
- Shut down any unnecessary process or equipment loads, or put machines into sleep mode
- Power down or put in sleep mode any computer labs during this time
- Turn of lighting toward the end of the day, and when you leave the office
- Encourage staff to unplug laptops and use battery power for the last hour or so of the day
- Adjust cooling setpoints where possible for server rooms to ease some pressure on cooling systems
- Keep windows closed to prevent heat loss and blinds closed to prevent solar heat gain
- Use any major lab equipment earlier in the day, and avoid use or power-down during the expected peak hours
- Any other unique actions you can think of to reduce electricity consumption for that timeframe
Questions or concerns? Please contact Andrew McAlorum, amcalorum@uwaterloo.ca.