Lighting

There are thousands of light bulbs on campus, which use energy and regularly burn out or fail. The UW's maintenance electricians are addressing both issues with a program to upgrade campus lights to LED bulbs, which are more efficient and longer-lasting than traditional lights.

The team recently swapped out more than 200 lights on the IMA's squash and racquetball courts, which will reduce power consumption by 78%. Kane and Meany halls have also gotten LED upgrades. 

By Mishu Pham-Whipple

Investing in buildings to save energy and money has become the norm across institutional and residential domains. As part of an energy conservation effort, the University of Washington has retrofitted light fixtures across campus and measured significant energy and cost savings. What has yet to be measured, however, is how lighting retrofits improve occupant satisfaction and productivity.

One of the 2015 Green Seed Fund teams aims to study the use of efficient lighting system in terms of both energy savings and user experience. Dr. Amy Kim, member of the proposal team looking at “Value-driven property-investing strategy for the UW campus,” has a strong background in quantifying energy savings for energy service projects. When she joined the University of Washington, she was interested in the methods UW used to save energy and the kind of environment these methods created. She joined Dr.