The Sustainability Office, with assistance from UTSC Graduate Student volunteers, presents the Just Shut It campaign.
Just Shut It! is an energy conservation campaign implemented to encourage fume hood users to maintain proper sash height during experiments, as well as closing of sashes when hoods are not in use. It was first run in the UTSC Physical & Environmental Sciences and Biology Departments in Fall 2009 and Winter 2010. The campaign was coordinated by the University of Toronto Scarborough Sustainability Office and Graduate Student Association at Scarborough (GSAS).
A fume hood draws temperature-conditioned air out of a building, requiring the building air system to expend significant eneregy to maintain comfortable working temperatures. In the Science Research Building (SY), all fume hoods are of the variable air volume (VAV) type, which means air flow is adjusted in response to factors such as sash height, in order to keep the face velocity constant. When the sash is lowered, the flux of air required to maintain face velocity is reduced, and lower volumes of temperature-conditioned air are exhasted. This lowers energy use reducing both financial costs and environmental demands. The fume hood also draws less current when the volume of exhausted air is lowered, saving even more energy.
A typical fume hood uses over three times the energy of an average American home [1]. By keeping the sash low during fume hood use, experimenter safety is increased, and energy consumption can be reduced by 80%. Energy costs can be further lowered by 50% through closing sashes and exhaust snorkels when hoods are not in use.
Graduate student volunteers will be posting flyers and stickers around the labs and providing campaign information to those in the Science Research Building who use fume hoods; interesed labs are incouraged to join the sash height competition! Beginning in May 2013, volunteers will be inspecting participating laboratories, checking sash heights of fume hoods that are not in use. Inspections will generally take place once or twice a week during unannoucned visits.
If you would like to join this campaign email the UTSC Sustainability Office to get your laboratory signed up or to find out more information.
|
