What Individuals Can Do

In past summers, many on campus have helped meet the curtailment goals by turning off non-essential equipment when notified of a pending curtailment. Examples of such items include lights, window air conditioners, coffee pots, unattended computers, and copy machines. These efforts contributed significantly to our ability to successfully reach the desired electrical load.

The closing of window blinds or shades on the east, south, and west sides of a building is also especially valuable. At the same time, we ask that windows in the affected buildings not be opened. We realize that this may be a difficult request to honor but opening the windows will allow heat and humidity into the building and increase the length of time for the building to cool once the air conditioning resumes. The buildings will ultimately be more comfortable if the windows remain closed.

For more information on how to help curtail energy, and to save energy year-around, please see our web site on Energy Conservation: http://www.facilities.uiowa.edu/ec/ecindex.htm.

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» Beat the Heat Tips (.pdf)