Earlier this year, the university joined a large group of higher education institutions and businesses across the country in a voluntary electricity-reduction program. As part of power grid operator PJM’s Emergency Demand Response program, the university will lower its electricity usage when operators see that demand is becoming too high.
A one-hour test to confirm the university’s potential reduction level will be held Monday, Sept. 17, from noon to 1 p.m. This test is rescheduled from late June.
For the test, members of the university community are asked to reduce demand ahead of the scheduled test time by turning off (or not using) non-essential equipment, such as:
- Turning off lights or window air conditioners in unoccupied spaces
- Turning off desk lamps, or turn on desk lamps and turn off overhead lights
- Running laptop computers on battery power
- Unplugging all chargers that are not in use (for example: cell phones, laptops, iPads, etc.)
- Powering down computers, copiers and other electronic devices during lunch, and shutting off power strips.
For more information on the electricity-reduction program and Case Western Reserve’s participation in it, read a previous article from The Daily.