Each year over Winter Break, Syracuse University takes advantage of the absence of students by cutting down on its expenditure of thermal energy.

The university’s Energy Systems and Sustainability Management department begins the process by reducing heat in academic and administrative buildings on Dec. 23 and dorm buildings on Dec. 19 — just after students leave their rooms for Winter Break.

Nathan Prior, associate director of energy conservation at SU, said buildings are kept at an average temperature of 68 degrees when main campus is occupied in colder months. But when campus has cleared out, buildings are brought down to just 60 degrees.

“The biggest reason why it’s 60 and not anything lower is because … you don’t want to put yourself in a position where it could potentially freeze any pipes,” Prior said. “We would put ourselves at risk if we (shut buildings off completely).”

Students who live in apartments on South Campus are given the option of staying at SU over Winter Break, but those who choose to leave must inform administration so the heating in their individual apartments can be reduced to the same temperature, Prior said.

He added that this is all controlled by the campus energy management system.

The Energy Systems and Sustainability Management department also has control over lighting systems in buildings and is responsible for shutting off lights across campus, Prior said.

However, Prior said much of the focus of energy conservation efforts is based in reduction to heating.

Statistics on these reductions take into account each source of energy expenditure that has been reduced, he said. These sources include natural gas, electrical power and steam power.

Steam power is used mainly for temperature control, which makes up a significant portion of the power reduced over break, said Thomas Reddinger, SU’s director of steam operations.

Steam is used to power the turbines of chilled water machines that cool campus buildings in the hotter months, Reddinger said, but in winter, steam accounts mainly for heating, hot water and humidification.

Reddinger added that steam produced by SU’s systems also serves to power a portion of the heating at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Crouse Hospital, the State University of New York Upstate Medical University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Prior said measurements of how much energy was saved are provided primarily by National Grid, a British electricity and gas utility company responsible for much of the northeastern United States.

When measuring saved energy, the Energy Systems and Sustainability Management department uses the weather and temperatures over break to provide context for how much energy has been saved, Prior said.

He added that because December 2015 was unusually warm for Syracuse, staff members will measure the university’s energy usage against previous years to determine how much of the energy saved was caused by hotter temperatures, and how much was controlled by the department.

The measurements from this past break will not be fully counted and available until some time in mid-February, as the cuts to lighting and heat span two billing periods — December 2015 and January 2016, Prior said.

Published on January 18, 2016 at 8:08 pm

Contact Bridget: blmcalli@syr.edu