Policies
Indoor air quality management program
Western Michigan University currently has an indoor air quality management program in place in 29 buildings or 3,365,757 square feet of building space. The buildings that fall under the management program currently have one or more types of air quality monitoring through the building automation system, which allows occupants to register complaints through the Maintenance Services work order system. Any alarms or work orders received that affect indoor air quality will either be addressed through the environmental control center or dispatched directly to technicians. Alarms and work orders will be addressed using standard operating procedures and action plans.
Campus thermal comfort standard
Western Michigan University has established a temperature policy for all buildings to control energy usage and cost. This policy contains an acceptable range for room temperature during both the heating and cooling seasons. In 2001, WMU developed the temperature set-point policy for all campus buildings. Sensors in the buildings allow for room temperatures to drop or rise two degrees depending on the season when rooms are not being occupied to save energy. On nights, weekends and holidays the set-point temperatures decrease even more to conserve energy further.
Compact fluorescent lamp policy
Western Michigan University's efforts to reduce energy consumption include conversion from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps whenever possible. All spent bulbs are recycled.
Energy star purchasing policy
Since October 2000, Western Michigan University has required that new energy consuming products be energy star compliant whenever necessary.
Sangren Hall CFC phase out plan signed
New energy prerequisites require that new base building heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems must be free of CFC-based refrigerants.