Several stories below the Science Center, the College is humming—literally.

Pipes of all colors and sizes branch out in every direction, passing over gargantuan machines that resemble the engines of a cruise liner. In another large room, five monolithiºc boxes distribute roughly a third of the electricity Harvard uses, every hour every day.

The loud hum, explains Director of Energy and Utilities Doug Garron, is the sound of Harvard in full swing—thousands of people using computers, taking showers and turning on lights—sometimes wastefully.

Altogether, it is a chorus of steam, heat, electricity and chilled water that will cost the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) more than $15.7 million this year alone—an increase of 25 percent since 1995.

New construction, expanding use of technology and an influx of affiliates over the past decade, Garron have all contributed to a “dramatic pattern” of growth in energy use at Harvard—including an annual increase of about 7 percent in the University’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Now far above the underground substation, a new wave of conservation efforts has begun, sparked by the concerns of budget-conscious administrators and environmentally aware students from groups like the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) and the Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI).

Taking Action

In an office at the corner of the University on Oxford Street, HGCI Director Leith Sharp and a small staff oversee one of the College’s most ambitious projects—to get students to turn off their computer monitors when not using them.

Known as the Computer Energy Reduction Program (CERP), it is one of a handful of projects founded over the summer with funding from FAS in order to promote campus awareness of energy use through advertising and prizes.

“We have a situation where people live in a state of ignorance about their impact,” she explains. “At the moment, students bring a set of behaviors with them, and until recently, we’ve had no mechanisms to address that behavior.”

During the summer a group of HGCI interns estimated that FAS could save $360,000 per year if students put computers on sleep mode or switched them off when not in use. Currently, up to 60 percent students needlessly leave their computers on day and night, the group estimates.

Students admit they often needlessly waste energy.

“My roommate leaves [lights] on all the time,” Timothy A. “Teo” Wickland ’04 says. “I mention it, but he doesn’t seem to believe that turning off the lights has any impact on the environment.”

To John Hsu ’03 and Kate Widland ’02, co-chairs of the EAC, such attitudes are pervasive and difficult to change. With the help of Sharp, the group has reinvigorated the Green Cup, a monthly contest that awards the most energy-efficient undergraduate House with an ice cream party.

“We’re trying to get students to have a certain level of awareness,” Hsu says. “Maybe they’ll walk around their House asking, ‘why is that light always on?’ or, ‘why is the heat always so high and why doesn’t anyone complain?’”