The University Sustainability Office introduced a new tool that allows students to see exactly what is using energy in various settings around campus, including residence halls, offices, classrooms, kitchens and laboratories.
Through this tool, students can manipulate 360-degree virtual rooms to determine the energy consumption of various appliances and other devices.
The web-based tool is designed to contribute to the Change Your State campaign, according to David Dean, outreach and communications coordinator for the University Sustainability Office.
“Change Your State is a behavior change campaign to educate the community on how to lead a more sustainable lifestyle,” Dean said. “The current goal of Change Your State is a 5 percent reduction in energy for N.C . State, which would equal roughly $1 million.”
According to Tracy Dixon, director of the University Sustainability Office, the idea for this campaign was spawned from students in a class in the Poole College of Management.
“Lynn Ellis in the [Poole] College of Management taught a creativity class, and we told her class that we want to have a behavior change campaign class that is interesting and effective and asked what we should do,” Dixon said. “The class presented ideas to us and from that we formed the Change Your State Campaign.”
According to Dean, the specific idea for the virtual room tool came from a similar function of Arizona State University’s Campus Metabolism web portal.
The tool was developed by Springleaf Strategies, a marketing and sustainability-consulting firm based in Raleigh, according to Dean. He said the project cost came out to just under $9,000.
Dean said the potential payoffs of this project would be beneficial for the University.
“If we spend less money on utilities, we will not have to cut as many classes or staff and faculty positions,” Dean said. “You don’t have to be green to understand the importance of clean air, being fiscally responsible and leaving this world a better place.”
The University Sustainability Office, which is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, according to Dixon, is part of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. According to their website, there are 19 North Carolina colleges and universities in this association, including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and Wake Forest University.
Dixon said the size of N.C . State makes its sustainability project unique.
“Since N.C . State is the largest four-year institution in North Carolina, we leverage partnerships and rely heavily on collaborations to get sustainability work done,” Dixon said. “Most universities only have one full-time position devoted to sustainability, but we have three full-time staff, two grant-funded positions and two part-time student interns.”
Rachel Conley, a senior in fisheries and wildlife science and the chair of the Student Government Sustainability Commission, said she thinks the new tool will be effective.
“[The tool] is an eye-catching feature that specifically brings attention to vampire energy or dormant energy consumption via things like chargers that are left plugged in or lamps not in use,” Conley said.
Conley said, however, the Sustainability Office should not just limit their marketing of the project to students living on campus.
“This tool can reach more students if the University Sustainability Office markets this tool as a way to reduce your energy bill,” Conley said.
Ansilta De Luca-Westrate , a sophomore in elementary education, said the tool will most likely be beneficial in the long term, but not necessarily the short term.
“Any changes we are seeking in terms of sustainability are long-term and will need time to develop on campus,” De Luca-Westrate said.
De Luca-Westrate , who has been involved with numerous sustainability efforts on campus, said the key to getting students to actually use the tool is to increase student involvement.
“I think the Sustainability Office needs more student involvement who can serve as liaisons with the campus to get the word out for really thought-provoking, advanced tools,” De-Luca Westrate said.
Dixon said it will be marketed as an educational tool at first, but the opportunity to expand is certainly present.
“In the beginning, it will be a promotional tool that we use in educational campaigns to show students that they can actually make energy savings,” Dixon said. “At some point, we’d like to make it even more interactive and connect it to an iPhone application.”
Dean also said the education aspect of the tool will be most valuable.
“It allows students to discover these realities on their own instead of us attempting to convince everyone ourselves,” Dean said. “I think the message is more powerful that way.”
Conley said the nature of the University should lend itself to make great strides in sustainability.
“N.C . State should not be leading just the state, but the southeast when it comes to sustainability efforts,” Conley said. “As a land grant institution, we are given all the tools we need to succeed in such a field.”
