Student group taking steps to help energy conservation

As the University of Minnesota’s Energy Management department continues its campaign to save energy and make the University more sustainable, a new student group is taking a small-scale approach to help tackle a big issue.

A coalition of environmentally-oriented student groups started The Power Police this semester to help office workers save energy. The project is a partnership between Energy Management and the Energy Efficiency Student Alliance .

While Energy Management has undertaken a campaign to save energy across the University, much of their work requires technical training most students don’t have, Power Police organizer Andy Pearson said.

"It turns out Energy Management was doing quite a lot commercially, but unless you had an engineering degree, there weren't ways students could participate," he said.

Despite the complexity sometimes involved in energy conservation, the Power Police are striving to take a simpler approach.

The group’s main focus this semester has been coordinating energy audits at various University buildings. These audits, which the group calls “blitzes,” involve installing power strips, digital timers and light switch stickers, in order to monitor power usage in the buildings and help the occupants conserve more.

“We hook up everything onto a power strip, measure it with our watt meter and leave the office with a sheet with how much energy they’ve saved. Usually it’s five to 10 watts.” said junior Rob Bauer , another group organizer.

Last Thursday and Friday, the Power Police held their second blitz of the year in Vincent Hall , with more than two dozen volunteers participating. Another blitz at Lind Hall earlier in the year drew nearly fifty volunteers.

Buildings are given two days notice that they’ve been chosen for an audit, but staff in the building are given the option of not participating.

Even though the group’s efforts won’t make a huge dent in Energy Management’s goal to cut energy usage at the University by five percent this year, Energy Management Assistant Director Jim Green said the Power Police’s efforts are having an effect on the way people on campus think about energy.

“What they are doing is having face to face, one on one conversations about saving money with building occupants,” he said. “I think the culture change and energy consumption awareness is huge and I think that’s where the real dividends will pay off in their efforts,” Green said.

The two blitzes so far this year will help save $445 annually in energy costs, and Bauer said the group hopes to keep the blitzes going.

“We’re … saving energy, changing culture,” Bauer said. "We want to do more offices and keep going.”