News/Press

December 16, 2009
Albuquerque Journal
Opinion

UNM Leads in Energy Savings

By David Schmidly
UNM President

How ever much Americans may disagree on energy and environmental policy, we do agree that conserving our resources is a responsibility we all share. Public officials and those who have been entrusted with educating our young people have a special obligation: Every dollar we can conserve on energy costs is a dollar that can be better spent preparing our students for better lives.

As a biologist, I've seen dramatic evidence of what man's overutilization of fossil fuels has done to species and their habitats. Like most others in my field, I've been astounded by it, measured it, written about it.

Here at the University of New Mexico, I'm impressed by the eagerness of students, faculty and university staff alike to make adjustments in their daily routines to reduce energy consumption. Setting aside the environmental impact of these efforts, let's face it: In these times of tight budgets, these seemingly small steps will have a major impact in helping us fulfill our core missions of education and research.

The impact of these steps can be significant. With nearly 12 million square feet of space spread over six different campuses, we are one of New Mexico's biggest consumers of energy. From technology-rich science and economics labs to dormitory rooms alive with computers and peripherals and charging stations for laptops and smart phones, there are few institutions that have experienced such a spike in demand for energy as colleges and universities over the past 10 years.

Since I signed the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment in 2007, 662 of my fellow presidents have done so. In doing it, we recognized that reducing energy consumption is one of the greatest challenges facing higher education in the 21st century. Those of us who are privileged to lead our nation's institutions of higher learning must effect behavioral changes in our campuses' use of energy. And, as is always our challenge at public universities like UNM, we must do so by achieving broad consensus.

A recent initiative at the University of New Mexico provides a useful example of an institutional activity that can inspire broad systemic change.

Last year, our faculty, administrators, staff and students embarked on a multi-year partnership with Energy Education Inc., the nation's leader and pioneer of people-based energy conservation, to institute customized and comprehensive behavior-changing energy conservation measures that help us reduce our consumption of electricity, natural gas and precious water. Energy Education Inc. is helping us re-think the way we consume energy.

As a result, we are making changes in our behavior and operation of our building systems that will be sustainable for decades, begun by a proven implementation process that turns energy-saving strategies into reality throughout our campus community.

We have already exceeded expectations. During the first 18 months of the program, we had projected to save $4.5 million in energy costs. Over this period, we have already saved taxpayers $5 million. This represents a nearly 19 percent reduction in energy consumption on the Albuquerque campus. Our carbon emissions reductions are equivalent to removing 6,200 cars from the highways for a year, or planting nearly one million trees.

Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency named UNM Hospital a winner of its prestigious Energy Star award, which is a mark of superior energy performance. It is the first and only teaching hospital to win this award, which recognizes UNMH as one of the most efficient buildings in the nation.

America's colleges and universities have always been at the forefront of bold new ideas and long-term behavioral change. This highly committed, environmentally responsible new generation will already have changed the world forever, ushering in a new era of energy use awareness, accountability, conservation and stewardship of our natural resources.

After all, “changing the world” is what colleges and universities are supposed to do, isn't it?