Ohio State's energy budget grew from $22.5 million in fiscal year 1998 to $58.5 million in fiscal year 2007, a $36 million increase. The cost stems from rising energy prices and from OSU's 66 percent increase in energy usage since the mid-1980s.
"We had a major energy program here in fiscal year '73, driven by the famous oil embargoes. It reduced energy consumption close to 50 percent," said Wallace Giffen, Facilities Operations and Development energy programs manager. "But since then, it has gradually started increasing."
OSU recognized its need to conserve energy, and in 2006 created the Department of Energy Services and Sustainability, said Aparna Dial, the department's director.
"There has been an awareness and also a recognition from administration that this is an important initiative and that it's very important for campus to play a leadership role in this arena," she said.
To curb energy use, Dial said OSU needs to begin by drawing more attention to its current consumption rates. Utility information for every building on campus will be made accessible online to the university community autumn quarter. By seeing electric, fuel and water usage, Dial said she hopes viewers will be inspired to conserve energy.
Dial said buildings could turn lights off in empty rooms, shut down unused computers and reduce heating and cooling.
"Back in the '70s, everybody knew there was an energy shortage and they were willing to do things like have colder rooms in the winter and warmer rooms in the summer," Giffen said.
In addition to an individual building's utility readings, historical records and comparison to other universities will be available to help viewers digest the information, Dial said.
OSU subscribes to a service called Sightlines, which placed it in a comparison group with other universities of equivalent size located in similar environments. The school's utility data is entered and then charted in relation to its counterparts.
"We're better than some, worse than a few," Giffen said. "We're about in the middle."
OSU encompasses a diverse range of buildings - such as many laboratories and a hospital - other campuses might not have. For this reason, OSU's energy progress cannot solely be tracked by comparisons to other schools.
"Part of our campus is a hospital," Giffen said. "We happen to be a flagship university. We have a department of about everything anybody ever invented, where others are more specialized."
Giffen said OSU's energy usage swell is due to three factors: the advent and ubiquity of personal computers, more spaces that are air conditioned and the development of a larger number of energy-intensive buildings such as laboratories, or even the Recreational and Physical Activity Center.
Clark Simon, a sophomore in political science and Spanish, said he recognizes OSU consumes a large amount of energy.
"Buildings like the (Science and Engineering Library) are open 24 hours a day," he said. "Whether there's 100 kids in there or 10 kids in there, they're using the same amount of energy."
Simon said he would view the online utility information to gauge OSU's energy consumption but not to find alternative sources of energy.
To become more environmentally friendly, Dial said the university community needs to consider how it can reduce its energy use. Publishing consumption rates, she said, is just one tool to illuminate the individual's connection to energy.
"I hope students get more aware," Dial said. "And not just students, but the entire university community. Energy is everyone's business."
Allison D'Aurora can be reached at daurora.5@osu.edu.
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