With more than 3,000 acres, 300 buildings and 78,000 faculty, students and staff, the U-M Ann Arbor campus is equivalent to a small city. Improving the environmental performance of this landscape would require a small army — one called the Planet Blue Operations Team.
Since 2007 teams of Planet Blue energy and environmental specialists have been deployed throughout campus buildings to improve energy efficiency within the facilities while engaging building occupants to “think and act green.” The results of the program are real — both in energy reduction and dollars.
At a glance
• Planet Blue aims to improve the environmental landscape of the U-M Ann Arbor campus, which has more than 3,000 acres, 300 buildings and 78,000 faculty, students and staff.
• Through June, the Planet Blue program has yielded a reduction in overall energy use in the range of 11 percent and more than $3 million in utility cost avoidance in just 35 buildings that have been commissioned. Another 33 campus buildings received Planet Blue treatment between July 2009-June 2010.
• Through a series of energy conservation activities, overall energy usage at Rackham Hall is down 25 percent with utility costs reduced more than 30 percent.
• Another 30 buildings are scheduled to take part in Planet Blue this fiscal year.
Through June, the program has yielded a reduction in overall energy use in the range of 11 percent and more than $3 million in utility cost avoidance in just 35 buildings that have been commissioned. For some buildings — such as Rackham Hall, which opened in 1938 — the challenges to achieve these kinds of savings are huge.
“This building was not designed with energy conservation in mind,” says Janet Weiss, dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. “The building is old and beautiful, but it poses special challenges when trying to improve energy usage.”
What has been done in Rackham Hall is nothing short of amazing. Through a series of energy conservation activities, such as revised heating and cooling fan scheduling, insulation improvements, and installation of motion-sensing power strips to control lighting, overall energy usage is down 25 percent with utility costs reduced more than 30 percent. Weiss credits the Planet Blue team and the people who work and study in Rackham Hall.
“This program works because of the intelligent collaboration amongst the Planet Blue team and the faculty, staff and students here at Rackham,” Weiss says. “The task wasn’t to convince people of the need to be environmentally responsible, but to give them concrete things they can do to make a difference.”
Another 33 campus buildings received the Planet Blue treatment between July 2009-June 2010, and 30 more are scheduled for this fiscal year. With each building offering unique challenges, the work of the Planet Blue Operations Team presses on.
“We’re seeing tangible results from the engineering work that has been done on the buildings as well as the efforts from building occupants,” says Rich Robben, executive director for Plant Operations. “We can always improve, but I’m very pleased with what’s happened these past three years because the Planet Blue program is making a real impact in reducing our energy consumption at U of M.”
