by Rebecca Walker — July 3, 2009—Michigan State University Physical Plant personnel have partnered with the Registrar’s Office, Academic Technology Services and Facilities Planning and Space Management on campus to develop a solution in the form of new classroom scheduling practices.
During the 2008-09 academic year, seven buildings participated in a pilot program to schedule evening classes and sanctioned events more efficiently.
As a result of the classroom consolidation pilot, energy reductions in the seven buildings ranged from 2 percent to 20 percent, according to school officials. As the majority of building energy is consumed in the heating, ventilation and cooling, or HVAC systems, the easiest way to reduce energy consumption is to reduce the amount of time the HVAC runs.
The classroom consolidation initiative was one of the 50 recommendations produced by the Environmental Stewardship Initiative, “Be Spartan Green.” For more information, see the Michigan State University Web site.
