UO researchers are currently studying the lightbulbs on campus in hopes of switching them to LEDs to reduce the electricity demand on campus.
The LED retrofit study is part of the university’s Climate Action Plan 2, and is one of the last few studies to be completed. The goal of the retrofit is to transition all campus bulbs to LEDs to reduce emissions, said Steve Mital, Director of Sustainability.
Mital said there are roughly one million bulbs on campus, ranging from fluorescents and halogens to other older bulbs. Transitioning to LEDs would be more efficient because they free up capacity for additional load in the electrical circuit. In other words, LEDs save energy.
While this is a smaller scale project, Mital said students should care about it because LEDs help conserve electricity. LEDs also reduce the electricity demand that may occur by heating with electricity.
“The other thing that we’re discovering is there are [electrical] circuits on campus that are close to their capacity, meaning if you were to plug in one more appliance, you might overload that circuit,” Mital said. “But if we relamp with LEDs, then you reduce the power demands from any given circuit and free up capacity for another computer, server or any number of items that we would want to plug into the circuits around campus.”
From a student perspective, switching to LEDs would increase the lifespan of the bulbs on campus and reduce both labor costs and energy emissions, according to senior environmental science major Kenna Dinsdale
Mital said the project began last April, and UO researchers put together four questions they hope to answer.
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What is the percentage of LEDs currently installed on campus?
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How much energy would be saved if we switched the older light bulbs to LED?
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What would be the cost of materials and labor to complete that transformation?
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How long would it take to earn back the money spent on materials and labor?
“The first two [questions] we can answer directly with the data,” Mital said. “To get an estimate on cost and payback period, you need to know the information that we’ve already talked about. From there, we could estimate the total cost of the lighting transformation project.”
After establishing goals, Mital and others worked with the Location Innovation Lab and Campus GIS and Mapping Program to create a specialized app based off the campus map. The app displays the campus map with every single room of every single building on it. This allows researchers to get a better understanding of how many bulbs are in each building.
Next, Mital and others hired eight students during a 10-week hiring period. The students chosen were trained on how to operate the app, and identify different bulbs as well as other requirements necessary for the project. From there, the students spent the summer taking inventory of all the bulbs on campus.
Senior environmental studies major Kenna Dinsdale was one of the eight students hired and trained to take inventory of the bulbs. “I wanted to learn more about what my school is doing in terms of combating climate change…” Dinsdale said.
Dinsdale said having a lighting inventory is important and she was happy to contribute. She feels the project is a great start for reducing energy emissions and cutting costs.
Mital and others are composing the data gathered over the summer into a report. He hopes to have the report completed by the end of the calendar year.
