Dear Campus Community:
The extreme heat that has enveloped our state is driving record demand for electricity, and there is a possibility that the state grid operator ERCOT will issue public appeals for electricity conservation for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week.
Rice University’s energy team will be proactively enacting a number of measures to reduce campus electricity demand during the afternoon on Monday thru Wednesday. 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.
Unlike in past calls for campus electricity conservation, we will not be enacting any temporary rolling air conditioning outages on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. If your air conditioning turns off unexpectedly during the afternoon, please call the Facilities Service Center at 713-348-2485.
For questions related to Rice’s efforts to reduce electricity consumption, please contact Eric Valentine (energy@rice.edu).