reduce

Student
You, MSU students, are the future leaders of the world. You can lessen your environmental impact now. Small changes which are easy to make today add up to big savings.

It’s easy. Try this:

REDUCE the waste you generate by printing double-sided and narrowing your print margins.

Did you know… printing double-sided in MSU computer labs saves 20,455 sheets of paper (41 reams!) and $150 annually. Narrowing print margins to 0.75 inches saves 19% of the paper consumption, which means fewer trips to the store to buy paper.

REDUCE the energy you consume by turning off lights and computers when not in use. Turn off and unplug lights and appliances when not in use.

In campus buildings, computers and lights account for the majority of the plug load (individual user energy). Turning lights off one hour each day in a building reduces energy use by 3%. Turning off [or enabling energy savings features for] computers and other equipment after work hours or between prolonged absences reduces building energy use by 3%. Each of these 3% reductions save 2,490,000 kwh, 5,666 metric tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and $175,000 in fuel costs (2008 figure).

Faculty
You, MSU faculty members, are educating the future leaders of the world. Your research is solving world problems. You can lead by example by making small, individual changes that will produce global results.

It’s easy. Try this:

REDUCE the waste you generate by printing double-sided and narrowing your print margins, and allow your students to do the same.

Narrowing print margins to 0.75 inches saves 19% of the paper consumption, which means fewer trips to the store to buy paper. It also results in fewer pages of paper used and less storage space needed for files.

REDUCE the energy you consume by turning off lights and computers when not in use.

In campus buildings, computers and lights account for the majority of the plug load (individual user energy). Turning lights off one hour each day in a building reduces energy use by 3%. Turning off [or enabling energy savings features for] computers and other equipment after work hours or between prolonged absences reduces building energy use by 3%. Each of these 3% reductions save 2,490,000 kwh, 5,666 metric tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and $175,000 in fuel costs (2008 figure).

REDUCE the energy you use in your labs and offices. Close your fume hoods, and turn off and unplug equipment when not in use. Turn the thermostat down in the winter and up in the summer.

A UC Irvine study concluded that closing the fume hood when not in use can keep 50,000 lbs of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. MSU’s energy and environmental engineer confirms that simply closing the sash can save labs $5,000 per fume hood per year. MSU has 1,250 fume hoods.

Heating, ventilation and cooling accounts for 40- 60% of the electrical consumption in any given building.  Lowering the temperature by 1°F in the winter and raising it 1°F in the summer saves approx. $260,000 across the campus (2007 figure).

Staff
You, MSU staff, make the University run. Your efforts are the key to making it run efficiently while creating ways to positively impact the environment. You can lessen your environmental impact now. Small, individual changes will produce large, university-wide results.

It’s easy. Try this:

REDUCE the waste you generate by printing only when necessary, printing double-sided and narrowing your margins. When using multifunction copiers, set the default to two-sided printing.

Users who print over 10,000 pages per year (or 40 pages per day) should consider buying double-sided printers and defaulting to two-sided printing settings when replacing their current printers to lower their print costs.

Narrowing print margins to 0.75 inches saves 19% of the paper consumption. That’s more money to spend on other priorities for the office!

REDUCE the energy you consume by turning off lights and computers when not in use. Track your progress on the GIS Web site at http://www.gis.msu.edu/begreen

In campus buildings, computers and lights account for the majority of the plug load (individual user energy). Turning lights off one hour each day in a building reduces energy use by 3%. Turning off [or enabling energy savings features for] computers and other equipment after work hours or between prolonged absences reduces building energy use by 3%. Each of these 3% reductions save 2,490,000 kwh, 5,666 metric tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and $175,000 in fuel costs (2008 figure).