SUNY Oswego will again join many SUNY campuses and hundreds of organizations around the world on Wednesday, June 21, in enthusiastically participating in the annual Daylight Hour campaign.
To support the campaign, which raises awareness of the value of simple daylight to save energy and improve health, members of the college community are asked to switch off lights in day-lit offices, even if in home offices, for one hour at noon on June 21 (or longer if desired).
Daylight Hour is a global social media campaign by the Building Energy Exchange to promote the energy, cost and health benefits of using daylight when electric lighting is unnecessary. The Daylight Hour campaign has been broadened to include home offices, while also providing an opportunity for people to share their creative work spaces.
To participate, turn off non-essential lighting and post about your participation to social media using the hashtag #DaylightHour. College community members can visit the Daylight Hour website for more information including the energy savings calculator, best practices and case studies from past participants. Participants are encouraged to register to be included in the official count.
“On campus, the Facilities Services team has done a lot of fantastic work toward light-related energy savings,” Sustainability Director Kate Spector said. “For example, the campus has swapped out for more efficient LED lighting in most of our exterior parking and pathway lighting.”
In addition to substantial external replacement work that will result in tremendous savings, the Facilities Services team is working on replacing more than 3,400 fluorescent bulbs in Penfield Library with units that will use less than half the power.
The Building Energy Exchange points out that the times when daylight is most available coincides with peak energy demand -- the time when business districts are running computers and air conditioning and demanding the most energy from the grid. This peak energy is the most expensive energy, and typically the dirtiest and most harmful to the global climate because the oldest, least efficient plants are brought online to meet this need, organizers said.
The Building Energy Exchange adds that studies suggest day-lit spaces promote health and well-being, improve productivity and reduce absenteeism. Using daylight -- any time, any day when daylight alone is sufficient to the work at hand -- is an opportunity to conserve energy, save money and promote the well-being of the many people who spend their days indoors.