UW students find energy savings for Monroe Street library

Wednesday, August 20, 2008


From an article by Anita Weier in The Capital Times:

In response to the city of Madison's latest budget crunch, library officials recently floated a plan to close the Monroe Street branch library or, at the least, cut back hours and services. But maybe there's a "green" way to save some dollars there instead.

A study by students in Mike Oliva's sustainable design engineering class at University of Wisconsin-Madison last year found that the 47-year-old library could shave energy costs by using high-performance fluorescent light bulbs, natural lighting, double-pane windows, occupancy sensors for bathroom lights and fans and additional insulation. The students found, incredibly enough, that there was no insulation in the walls. (emphasis added)

"The study was a good one, to look at an ancient building and see what you could do," said Library Director Barb Dimick. She thought some of the proposals, in fact, worthy enough to include in her 2009 capital budget.

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