UI evaluting space, energy use
If recovering from a 500-year flood isn’t difficult enough, the UI Facilities Management team must work toward more effective use of space and energy.
And that will all have to be done under a dwindling university budget.
“We’re investing in saving money,” said Don Guckert, the UI associate vice president for Facilities Management.
But given the flood destruction — damaging roughly one-sixth of campus and with only about half of that recovered — Guckert said UI buildings are as efficient as he expects them to be for now.
“We already have a high utilization rate,” he said, and future plans are not far off, but they involve major restructuring across campus.
And when evaluating space use on campus, that and energy consumption go hand-in-hand, Guckert said.
As a heavily research-based institution, he said, the university faces challenges of employing buildings for much more than teaching components — such as lab space — when classes are not in session.
“If we can isolate rooms from buildings, and implement partial closure toward buildings, then great,” he said.
Though flood recovery has consumed UI officials’ time, pressing items such as evaluating space can now be looked at more actively, said Gary Dalecky, a UI Facilities Management design and construction engineering tech.
“We can give a more accurate look at areas that hadn’t been covered before,” he said. Facilities Management employees hope to bring research labs “up to speed,” he said.
Despite budget slashes, Guckert said, the UI has “amped up our efforts” when it comes to evaluating campus buildings.
“We have a lot of opportunities to reduce energy consumption by going in and tuning up buildings,” he said, because many facilities across campus are old and out-of-date.
For example, the Bowen Science, Biology, and Chemistry Buildings consume approximately 20 percent of all campus energy, he said.
In addition, the Main Library was built during an era when lights were turned on and off from a central location — something that could be solved with distributed lighting, allowing certain areas to be kept dark when not in use.
With Iowa’s sudden temperature changes, which throw campus ventilation systems for a loop, many buildings remain too hot or too cold.
“It’s not that we’re not aware of the problem, it’s that we only have so much money,” Guckert said.
To ensure space is utilized properly, he said, each building will need to be individually evaluated.
UI Provost Wallace Loh echoed Guckert’s thoughts on redesigning space and energy use across campus, noting the reorganization means “more than just light bulbs.”
The school could look at altering schedules, he said, which would allow the campus to operate on a more 12-month basis as opposed to being somewhat isolated during summer months.
Regardless, he said, discussion about space utilization and energy consumption will continue to be part of wider discussion among university officials.
“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” Loh said. “It forces us to think outside the box.”
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