By: Jen Weiss, 2011 Climate Corps Public Sector Fellow at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina; MEM candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
When I was a kid, I used to love Easter morning. Actually, I still do. Surprisingly, it has little to do with the chocolate bunnies, the jellybeans, and the colorful peeps. What I love is the thrill of the hunt – where are all the treasures hiding and can I find them all?
This is the feeling I get every day here at Shaw University. There are so many energy efficiency treasures hiding in these historic walls just waiting to be found.
Treasure, Treasure Everywhere!
At this point, it would be really easy for me to say something cliché like, “sometimes the no-cost or low-cost solutions are the easiest to implement.” But these energy efficiency mantras don’t get my message across, which is that I’m enjoying the thrill of the hunt and finding energy efficiency treasures:
- Let there be light. About 80% of Shaw’s indoor lighting has already been upgraded to more efficient fluorescent bulbs (T-8s for us environmental geeks) or CFLs (those squiggly lights for you non-environmental geeks). Together with my treasure seeking EDF partner, Eliza Davis, we found some buildings that had not upgraded their lighting. Also, when touring the residence halls, we found that each of the student desks – over 800 of them – had lights that could be upgraded to more efficient and cost effective lighting solutions. Voila! Treasure #1.
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