The Physical Plant Department said it is well on the way to its goal of saving $75,000 in energy costs over winter break.
The project, known as the Winter Setback Program, aimed to save money by reducing temperatures in unoccupied buildings and was introduced in President David Schmidly's final Monday Morning Message before the break.
Bob Notary, associate director of engineering and energy services at Physical Plant, said he has received 90 percent of the energy meter readings from the affected buildings.
"We have most of them in, and it's showing that we're pretty much on track for that $75,000 savings over Christmas," he said.
Notary said that the savings came primarily from cutting temperatures in vacant buildings during the course of the four-week break.
"We modify the operational schedules so that the systems run at a lower level than where they would run normally," he said. "In other words, the temperatures are reduced in the buildings, which reduces the operating time."
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Bruce Milne, executive director of the Sustainability Studies program, said conservation methods like the Winter Setback Program are a fundamental way to cut costs and reduce UNM's carbon footprint.
"Conservation and reduced use of energy is the most affordable way to accomplish a lot of goals at once," he said. "First, you save money; secondly, you keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere."
Notary said temperatures in some buildings were decreased by as much as 30 degrees.
"We can't shut them off completely for fear of freezing pipes in the building," he said. "In a lot of buildings, it's down as low as 50 degrees. With that, we operated buildings' systems much less than what we normally would when they were occupied."
Milne said UNM is working with Energy Education Incorporated, a conservation consulting firm, in reducing energy costs throughout campus.
"The plan is that they will educate all of us about reducing our energy usage during the day and at night when we're not in our offices or in our classrooms," he said. "That's expected to save basically millions of dollars over the next few years."
Notary said Energy Education Incorporated gives tips about simple things students, staff and faculty can do to save energy.
"We are assisting the Energy Education Incorporated folks that are reducing campus energy consumption by making these behavioral-type changes, in the way of turning off lights and things like that," he said. "So we are seeing those benefits."
Milne said that simple energy-saving techniques can make a huge impact on the environment and on UNM's budget.
"That's good for the environment, and it's good for the bottom line, especially these days when facing expected budget cuts," he said. "Why not save money where we can, just by our own choices?"
