After powering down many of the University’s departments for just one hour between 3 and 4 PM on Thursday, June 17, the school saved $110,000 in energy costs.
The $110,000 comes from saving 12-13 Megawatt hours of energy. Approximately 2-3 of the Megawatts were from individual behavior change, according to Kenneth Ogawa, Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance in Facilities and Real Estate Services.
The other 10 Megawatts were from larger measures taken by the University’s central operations.
The event, coordinated by the Office of the Executive Vice President and PJM, Penn’s regional electric grid operator, asked different groups and departments at Penn to voluntarily turn off the lights, air-conditioning, and any other devices that use electricity for one hour.
“When electricity use is very high, such as on hot, humid summer afternoons, the grid operator asks large power users like Penn to reduce electricity consumption.”
Initiatives like this “help avoid the need to turn on dirty, inefficient power plants,” Owaga said.
Once PJM told Penn officials what date and time they would be conducting the “power-shedding test,” Penn alerted various groups and departments to try to conserve electricity during this time.
“The goal was awareness and education on the energy conservation practices that can be implemented to show just how much can be saved, sometimes with extreme measures and other times on a daily basis,” Ogawa said.
The test is planned again for next summer, and another power-down may occur during winter break.
When asked about a possibility of a drop in productivity, Anne Papageorge, the Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate Services, said, “we have not heard that many offices stopped functioning or doing work. We have actually heard from many departments that this event and the surrounding messaging stimulated discussion, analysis, and better practices being put into place going forward.”
Papageorge mentioned that, with regard to energy conservation, awareness and education brings implementation and behavior change.
The savings from this energy test will be invested into the Green Fund, which issues grants financing innovative environmental ideas by the Penn community to help meet Penn’s sustainability goals.
“The dollar figure really makes you aware of how much energy you are actually using each day,” Al Filreis, Kelly Writer’s House director and Penn Professor said.
