There are several ways to inform and let the entire campus community engage to accomplish our energy conservation goals.

Comprehensive Energy Conservation Campaign

The campus could initiate comprehensive energy conservation campaigns, engaging colleges, departments, administration and individuals throughout campus. The existing efforts of campaigns are Illini Lights Out, Building Level Energy Consumption Report, Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP), and the Certified Green Office Program (CGOP). The development of this comprehensive campaign would be most effective if it included both F&S and iSEE personnel, faculty experts in social marketing, and representatives from different target audiences.

Improve and Expand the Illini Dashboard Project

The Illini Energy Dashboard shows real-time energy usage in selected University buildings displaying energy consumption levels for electricity, cooling (district chilled water), and heating (district steam) so that users can make educated choices about the way they can affect energy consumption and conservation. There are now 41 buildings with meters displaying some form of building energy information. The system could also be extended to every campus building to maximize its impact, and real-time energy information could be integrated into electronic building displays throughout campus, so the building occupants are aware of the energy usage in their space and how that compares with an average day and with other campus facilities.

Inform Success (and Failure)

Peer to peer competition can be an effective approach to behavioral modification. Campus holds activities such as Campus Sustainability Week to notify students and faculty of our university, as well as those peer institutions, of ongoing conservation projects and project successes.  In addition, campus publicizes the College Level Energy Report to deliver information on both the successes and failures of campus energy conservation efforts to encourage peer-to-peer learning and competition. The FY16 College Level Energy Report can be found in the Related Files below.

Revisit Stewarding Excellence Recommendations

The Stewarding Excellence Program formed teams about key financial issues on campus, and developed reports on Next Steps to make improvements.  Key recommendations from the report include the establishment of a campus utilities fiscal oversight committee, the formation of an incentive pool system wherein colleges that conserve energy would receive a nonrecurring budget increase and those that increase energy usage would be assessed a charge, an improved energy information program, and inclusion of energy use data in unit annual reports and the Division of Management Information’s Campus Profile to raise the visibility and importance of energy conservation. In the event that the campus is unable to implement these programs to provide unit-level encouragement for energy conservation, it may be appropriate to reconsider the idea of implementing decentralized energy billing. The first step could be a study of the pros and cons of a Responsibility Based Budgeting (RBB) allocation process. The Provost’s Budget Reform Process is considering a cost per square foot be implemented throughout campus, to more closely align resources with the user groups.