SUBJECT:  Energy Load-shedding and What it Means to You!

Due to peak seasonal power usage, our Cogeneration Plant is unable to meet current campus power demands without importing electricity for approximately 5-6 hours daily (Monday-Friday.) This situation will continue from now through October. This imported power is expensive (and is becoming more expensive) and can add stress to the state's electrical grid in times of statewide crisis.

To reduce the amount of imported power, Physical Plant Services has developed an automatic building load-shedding program. This program is designed to target energy reduction in the area of comfort cooling for approximately 39 of the largest buildings equipped with automatic temperature-control systems.

Labs, research areas, animal rooms, computer rooms and other designated "essential zones" will not be affected by this program. The program automatically turns off ventilation fans on a 15-minute rotating cycle (no more than 1 cycle per fan per hour) and raises set points for space heating to 68 degrees and cooling set points to 78 degrees. This means that fans will be off for 15 minutes every hour, so dress in layers so you can adjust your own body temperature to keep cool when ventilation fans are not running, and keep doors and windows closed to retain cold air.

This automatic load-shedding program has been proven to reduce campus load by approximately 5%. Although effective, this system's ability to reduce energy demands pales in comparison to potential savings achieved through conservation efforts, as demonstrated by the campus community during the summer of 2001. So far this summer energy consumption has increased approximately 6% from last year, and we are now in our historically high-energy demand quarter (August-October.) Please visit the following web site for energy conservation ideas and guidelines that will help reduce the campus demand for energy: http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/energy. Lighting, computers and office plug-in items (portable heaters, coffee pots, radios, portable fans, etc.) are the easiest loads to reduce and have the largest impact. Turn off the lights when you leave a room and don't forget to shut down those computers if you leave your office for more than 30 minutes.

Daily usage of the load-shedding program is predicted to be necessary for the remainder of the summer. The program is designed to be specific to each building, however, we realize that space utilization changes. If a critical area is affected, please contact the Service Referral Desk at 534-2930. In office and classroom areas where comfort cooling is absolutely essential, please have the appropriate area supervisor contact John Dilliott, PPS Plant Manager at 534-6628 (jdilliott@ucsd.edu) or Wendy Schiefer, Customer Relations Manager at 534-0317 (wschiefer@ucsd.edu).

                                                Gary Matthews
                                                Assistant Vice Chancellor -
                                                Auxiliary & Plant Services