At Yale University, bright ideas don't necessarily require that much energy.
Yale officials announced last week that energy consumption in its 20 undergraduate college houses has decreased by 17.3 percent since the 2004 academic year.
Installing new technology in the dorms, as well as educating students about conservation, helped the dorms cut down energy usage, Yale's energy manager Thomas Downing said.
Penn, on the other hand, has a ways to go before catching up to its Ivy League counterpart.
The University is still in an "information-gathering stage," said cultural-asset manager Andrew Zitcer. "In the summer or fall, [we will] start debuting initiatives that involve student input and participation."
University officials do not know how much energy each of the 12 College Houses consumes because they only keep track of the consumption by the University as a whole.
And that lack of data may be why Penn is behind in the energy-saving game.
"You can't tell people they're using too much energy without knowing how much they're using," Undergraduate Assembly Executive Vice Chairwoman and College junior Sarah Abroms said.
Thus, Penn officials are currently encouraging students to conserve energy, Zitcer said.
"We're not as efficient as we could be," Penn's senior facilities planner Daniel Garofalo said.
"We are behind in some ways, because Yale probably has a more focused administrative structure," he said, referring to Yale's sustainability coordinator, which Penn does not have.
Still, the University is in the process of collecting data on greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and is working with researchers in the School of Design to create "simulations that analyze the inputs and outputs of energy for buildings on campus," Zitcer said.
Using the simulations, "we can model the possible changes to buildings, like installing new heating systems, and see what effect they'll have on energy consumption before we actually spend any money," he added.
Yale's reduction in energy use is a part of a broader initiative announced in 2005 by University President Richard Levin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by 2020, Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said.
"Among other things, the president sent an e-mail to every student, and student groups spearheaded campaigns to have students switch from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use much less energy," Conroy said.
Yale's other green initiatives include working with student environmental groups and raising awareness about environmental issues through campaigns and competitions.
