Energy Crisis Impacts Campus

Despite significant reductions in campus electrical power usage over the past three years, soaring energy costs, especially that of natural gas, have seriously impacted UCSB as well as most other public and private entities in California. Individual energy conservation measures are increasingly necessary, warn campus administrators.

The price of a natural gas unit, or therm, quadrupled to $1.80 last month. This led David Sheldon, vice chancellor, administrative services, to tell the campus in a Dec. 15 memo that "we expect UCSB's December expense [alone] to be approximately one-half of last year's entire [gas] bill." Last year a therm of gas averaged 33 cents, estimated Jim Dewey, energy manager for physical facilities.

Dewey figures that total campus natural gas consumption for the academic year ending June 30 will be 2,865,153 therms, 12,394 therms more than the previous year. However, the bill will be almost $3 million, nearly triple that for 1999-2000.

To help reduce the gas bill, Dewey said Facilities Management's primary strategy is to "decreaseÉgas heating." This means office thermostats will probably have to be lowered from the average of 74 degrees to around 68 or 70. Building air conditioning and heating will likely be off on the weekends.

Individuals can help. "We need to understand that we're in a full-blown energy crisis," said Dewey. Turning off lights, computers, and nonessential equipment when leaving the office will save electricity.

UCSB has a four-year contract with Enron, a power provider, that expires in March 2002. But most electricity sold in the state is produced by natural gas-burning generators, so the price of power will inevitably increase.

New energy controls in 19 campus buildings, retrofitting two-thirds of the campus with high-efficiency lighting, and other measures have saved around 6.5 million kilowatt hours over four years.