Hopkins still lacks a comprehensive strategy for achieving climate neutrality, despite recent action taken by many of its peer institutions toward energy efficiency.
Yale, for example, has seen a 17.3 percent fall in energy use in its dorms since implementing its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy in the fall of 2005. Last month Cornell joined the University of Pennsylvania and 80 other schools in signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a contract that obligates signatories to formulate plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy use in Hopkins campus housing has remained steady and largely unchanged in the last three and a half school years, according to data collected by the office of Energy Services. Patterns in electricity consumption from 2004 to January of 2007 follow roughly the same annual trends, measured in kilowatts (kWh) of electricity used.
Hopkins currently spends over $9 million per year on primarily coal-generated electricity.
"I think everyone in the administration, from the president onward, recognizes that climate change is a defining issue of our time, and that Johns Hopkins is in a powerful position to leverage our knowledge base and experience to demonstrate leadership on this issue," said Davis Bookhart, Manager of Energy Management in the Energy Services department.
"With an effective campaign in energy efficiency, Hopkins could use up to 30 percent less electricity. Currently, Hopkins is losing millions of dollars a year by not investing in energy efficiency," said Teryn Norris, a freshman member of the Hopkins Energy Action Team (HEAT).
The data indicate that until the grand opening of Charles Commons last fall, the Homewood Apartments consistently had the highest rates of energy consumption. From September 2006 to January 2007, Charles Commons has been by far the highest energy consumer, exceeding Homewood by around 200,000 kWh per month. Given the short period of time the building has been operating, it is difficult as of yet to pinpoint a reason for this.
Currently the fluorescent lighting in all campus buildings is being retrofitted with newer more efficient bulbs. Six buildings have been refitted so far, including Ames Hall and the Bloomberg Physics Building. Each building takes several weeks to complete, however, and over 50 buildings remain unchanged.
"We need heating systems in the dorms that don't force students to leave their windows wide open in the winter to cool off. We need smart, automatic lighting systems that don't leave the halls looking like broad daylight at four in the morning," Norris said. "There are simple, feasible solutions our administration can take if it wants to get serious about reducing our energy costs."
The Office of Facilities Management is exploring new small-scale technologies in the interest of reducing energy consumption in both the dorms and academic buildings. Testing is currently underway on motion sensors in light switches that can automatically turn off the lights if someone has the left the room and neglected to do so themselves.
Right now there are photo cells near the windows of Hodson Hall that adjust the artificial lighting according to how much sunlight is coming into the building -- the more solar light, the lower the wattage of indoor lights.
According to Bookhart, expansion of these technologies into all campus buildings (including dorms) is less a matter of financial feasibility and more one of the sheer scale of the project and the time it would take to implement. He believes that the most effective way to make energy efficiency gains is to encourage students to take action.
"They have direct control over the majority of the electricity consumed," Bookhart said.
A group of freshmen called the "Eco-Reps" have been canvassing the dorms and talking to students about energy conservation. Beginning the week after spring break, there will be a "Go Green Challenge," in which each dorm will compete to lower energy consumption and recycle more.
The Eco-Rep program is in accordance with HEAT's Responsible Energy Policy, which seeks to commit Hopkins to make its energy consumption fully carbon neutral by 2015. Carbon neutrality entails the elimination of carbon emissions from energy consumption.
From the beginning of the 2006 academic year to the month of October, energy use in Wolman and McCoy Halls increased by at least 100,000 kWh more than the usual consumption; similar data exists for 2005 and 2004. This is almost entirely due to use of air conditioning, which students in these dorms can control for their suites.
"REP recognizes that while personal habits are important, energy efficiency technology is integral to any such initiative," Norris said.
