In early January Elizabethtown College released via email an inclement weather warning to the students of the campus. The warning was due to the general cold front that the campus community was facing. Included in this email was a warning that the college was participating in an energy curtailment program. This program requires the lowering of the internal temperature of the buildings on campus if required by the electric company contracted by the College.
So far, the Elizabethtown area has not reached a point that has warranted the program yet, however, as the temperature refuses to get warmer, we could see facilities move to implement it.
“There are times both in the summer and winter when the electric grid energy draw is too high, and the electric company requires the College to curtail its energy use. There is no specific temperature at which this occurs, however, it has occurred twice in the winter over the past 3 years,” Director of Facilities Management Jerry Schaber said. “Both times is when we experienced a polar vortex, and the temperatures dropped into the single digits for several days. It has also occurred once in the summer; this is when we had temperatures with highs above 100 degrees for several days.”
This means that while it is always a possibility, it would require prolonged extreme weather, relieving most students from the reality of a rapidly changing internal temperature.
With the college getting their energy from two main sources, they are sometimes forced to cut back and limit the use of electricity and energy during these particularly harsh climates.
“Facilities will be lowering temperature setpoints in buildings during the winter and increasing temperature setpoints in buildings during the summer if a curtailment was requested by our energy providers,” Schaber said.
As for how students have taken to this warning and past dorm temperatures, there have been a variety of responses, especially depending on the dorm building one lives in.
“I personally think Myer is always warm enough. We’ve never had any issues with being cold,” junior Myer resident Percy Lachman said. “Plus my roommate has the air conditioner accommodation, so we typically control the temperature to our liking and keep it cooler than most intentionally.”
Some buildings, like Myer, receive a large amount of heat when their AC units are removed from use for a majority of students without accommodations.
“I think the temperature control is ridiculous. If Founders can control their own air in their rooms, every dorm hall should be able to,” junior Ober resident Emily Clark said, speaking of a sentiment and a desire by many students to have greater control over their own temperatures. “They turn the heat on too early and the air on too early and it never works.”
It seems like there is a general push from the student body to be able to have more comfortable temperatures inside of their rooms, all the while the campus facility balances their energy use as they battle difficult temperatures.
“As an Etown student, I would commend the school for attempting to limit their energy use, but I would question their decision and priorities when it comes to dealing with temperatures such as these, especially when it can provide a precarious environment for their students regarding their safety,” juniorand Schreiber quadrangle resident Antonia Raimondo said.
Others have also agreed that the attempt to conserve energy use is a positive, however many feel like how they have gone about this is the wrong way.
Overall, as students weather through these extreme temperatures, the campus, referring to facilities specifically, has and will continue to balance the quality of life for their students and their energy use. With the hope that this pattern of colder weather will break soon enough and bring the campus to a more preferable season, students and faculty both move through this day-by-day in many layers and blankets.
