SEI staff members supervise Green Campus student interns on six university campuses, connecting regularly with each intern team as they develop energy saving projects and then partner with campus staff, students and faculty to implement the initiatives on campus. In addition to project oversight, SEI staff members help to develop all phases of the program at a given school, including coordinating program planning with university officials, recruiting and hiring the student interns, training students in energy audit and analysis techniques, presenting regional and statewide meetings for students and stakeholders, organizing gatherings to share best practices and lessons learned, and linking interns with post-graduation green collar career opportunities.

2008 Stanford Green Campus Team and Stakeholder (L-R; Johnny DuPont, Brendan Appold, Ryan Rogers, Noel Crisostomo, and Nik Kaestner

To date, Green Campus team projects have focused on a mix of educational efforts and technology adoption pilots. Student teams typically begin by identifying opportunities to make dining, housing and facilities operations more energy efficient. Their initiatives range from conducting energy audits for department offices and dining halls, to energy-efficient light bulb giveaways, to sponsoring dorm energy reduction competitions. Green Campus interns also establish for-credit internships and project-based classes; support campus green building (LEED) projects; provide university staff trainings on energy efficiency, and facilitate campus sustainability events and Earth Day celebrations.

SEI-Managed Green Campuses 

At Chico State, Green Campus deployed a network based power management project on 4,279 computers, which has led to an annual estimated energy cost savings of  $37,640 for the university.  Interns at UC Santa Cruz distributed 3,225 CFLs to replace incandescent bulbs, leading to an annual energy cost savings of $25,553.  At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, interns conduct dorm energy reduction competitions, which have already led to annual energy cost savings of $3,603 for the university.  Interns at UC Merced work with their university’s Energy Manager to de-commission unused laboratory fume hoods, which has led to an annual energy cost savings of $4,009. Meanwhile, Humboldt State University interns initiated network based power management and building commissioning projects estimated to save the university $59,454 a year. At Stanford, Interns conducted lighting efficiency audits of residential buildings on campus. Once completed, the Green Campus-identified lighting upgrades are expected to save Stanford over $150,000 a year in energy costs.