Working with Sustainable MTU to meet Michigan Tech's sustainability and resilience goals, Energy Management has taken an active role in reducing the university's carbon footprint through sustainable projects and behaviors.
Delivery of heating, cooling, lighting, electrical power, water and sewer services is a complex and important process that reaches every corner of our University. Michigan Tech has invested in a state-of-the-art Building Management System (BMS) to control the operation and scheduling of utilities to provide a comfortable learning environment, while reducing our carbon footprint. Examples of how Facilities Management works to lessen MTU's carbon footprint include:
- Installing solar panels on the roof of the new H-STEM Building.
- Purchasing 50% of all electricity for MTU from wind turbines. Less than half of the campus electricity is derived from traditional fossil fuels.
- Building LEED certified new buildings across campus
- Renovating older buildings to improve their performance, including insulation, heat recovery ventilation, new doors, windows, roofs and heating controls.
- Scheduling of heating, cooling, lighting and air exchange for maximum efficiency. In our newer buildings, occupancy sensors are utilized to tune the delivery of heat, cooling, lighting and heat recovery based on the real-time conditions in the space. If no people are present, the system reduces energy consumption automatically.
- Collaborating across campus on energy saving projects and education.
- Conducting Central Energy Plant Tours to students, faculty and staff in order to provide a better understanding of how our utilities are managed and how they can make a difference through their behavior and communication of problems that need to be addressed.
- Participating in energy credits and rebates to allow Michigan Tech to do more energy saving projects.
- Upgrading technology to improve the efficiency of systems that still use fossil fuels, to reduce consumption. Three of the four natural gas steam boilers on campus have been, or are being fitted with new digital controls that improve combustion efficiency and increase reliability. The fourth unit will be updated in 2025. These boilers were originally coal fired, and have been upgraded several times over the years, and are in excellent operating condition.
- Upgrading interior and exterior lighting to LED fixtures, many with built-in wireless lighting controls. This also saves labor, as these lights require far less maintenance.
- Utilizing waste heat recovery systems that improve efficiency or do useful work with excess heat instead of using more energy, like melting ice on sidewalks across campus to make them safer and to reduce the need for salt or sand.
- Installing water saving shower heads and toilets.