Dear Campus Community:
The extreme heat that has enveloped our state is driving record demand for electricity, causing our state’s grid operator ERCOT to issue a public appeal for electricity conservation. ERCOT projects that it may not have enough power to meet demand between 2 PM and 8 PM today. Without conservation, ERCOT could be forced to enact regional, rolling blackouts. As of this writing, it appears that this situation could play out again on Tuesday, July 12.
Rice University’s energy team will be enacting a number of measures to reduce campus electricity demand during the afternoons of both Monday and Tuesday. However, we need your help. During the afternoons, please:
- Turn off non-essential lights in offices, conference rooms and break rooms;
- close window blinds and shades to reduce the build-up of heat from the sun inside of buildings;
- turn off discretionary appliances and equipment; and
- take any other measures available to you to reduce electricity consumption.
Any temporary temperature adjustments to air conditioning systems will not impact laboratory or similar spaces with tight temperature-control requirements.
For questions related to Rice’s efforts to reduce electricity consumption over the next two days, please contact Eric Valentine (energy@rice.edu).