Boxer Energy and Sustainability Team (BEST)
Mission
The Boxer Energy and Sustainability Team (BEST) is a group of Pacific University employees and students that are committed to establishing an understanding of and support for sustainability and energy consumption in our local community and the world around us.
Vision
To help with this mission, Pacific University has partnered with the Energy Trust of Oregon to participate in their Strategic Energy Management (SEM) program. SEM will help us identify methods to improve overall energy management and lower energy consumption, which will be implemented by Pacific’s Facilities Department.
Our goal is to reduce energy consumption (on the Forest Grove and Hillsboro campuses, maybe others) by at least 5% by 2025. To do this, we will:
● Install LED lighting in as many buildings as possible
● Reduce HVAC setpoints to heating and air-conditioning do not get over used
● Make sure that lighting programs are adjusted during different seasons
Check out our 2022-2023 Impact Report to see how Pacific University saved energy this past year.
Best Practices
In our first year participating in the SEM program, we have changed many light fixtures out and put in LED fixtures, replaced boilers with high efficiency boilers, replaced some Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning controls for more efficiency, changed some HVAC temperature set points, and changed our control systems to use less energy when buildings are not in use. We have reduced our energy consumption by 23% in Creighton Hall, the first building we started tracking, resulting in $20,000 saved. This money has been reinvested in the university to do more capital projects that can help reduce energy consumption across both of our campuses.
Notable Accomplishments
- BEST (Boxer Energy & Sustainability Team) originally had their goal to reduce energy consumption by 2% by 2025, but increased their goal to 5% after surpassing it in 2022-2023!
- BEST (Boxer Energy & Sustainability Team) has saved a minimum of $25,000 per year for the last 3 years by implementing strategies such as:
- Regular preventative maintenance on all HVAC equipment.
- Lowering Hot water heater temperatures by a degree or 2.
- Purchasing and prioritizing energy efficient equipment when we do replacements.
- Increasing outside air in the buildings.
- BEST (Boxer Energy & Sustainability Team) has implemented energy savings projects over the past 2 years by implementing increasing efficiencies such as:
- HVAC Upgrades in Marsh, Tran Library, MPR and Murdock Hall.
- Switch to High efficiency boilers in Walter, VVA and Murdock Hall.
- Also getting ready to switch the parking lot lights at HPC to LED lighting and do retro commissioning on both Warner and Carnegie Halls.
- BEST (Boxer Energy & Sustainability Team) was able to capture monetary savings from previous projects and put the money towards improving another area of campus. Last year we used savings to purchase exterior LED lighting for parts of the Forest Grove campus.
How Can You Help
● Switch off the lights
● Turn off your computer at the end of the day
● Go paperless
● Unplug chargers when not using them
● Don't change the thermostat
BEST Team
Tim Holycross- Energy Champion
Cindy Schuppert- Executive Sponsor and Back up Energy Champion
Lisa Aiello – Staff Team Member
Pam Arnold- Staff Team Member
Will Lindauer- Staff Team Member
Ramona Illea- Faculty Team Member
Student Representative - Student Team Member
If you are interested in joining the BEST team, please contact Cindy Schuppert at schuppec@pacificu.edu