Quick Cut: Use the revolving door
Here at Campus Ecology, we try to find big, manageable ways for campuses to cut their emissions. However, we definitely don't want to ignore the fact that small choices, over time and with enough participation, can yield big dividends. So today's post comes to you courtesy of MIT's Sustainability Office, who concluded that up to 8x as much air is exchanged when using a swing door as opposed to a revolving door. That's 8 times as much air that needs to be heated or cooled, depending on the season. MIT calculated that if everyone exclusively used just two of the 29 revolving doors on campus (as opposed to the nearby swing doors), that the college would save almost $7500 in natural gas bills, and prevent the release of about 15 tons of CO2. Imagine if they used all 29!
Don't forget those handicap access doors! Frequently, very capable students will push the button for the automatic door just so they don't have to inconvenience themselves with opening a door. This is worse during the winter. Because the button was pushed, the door will remain open for the allotted 10 - 15 seconds, allowing a lot of cold air into the building. This is way too long for a door to remain open for someone who could just as easily use a regular door that would be open for maybe 5 seconds, tops.
I remember many a sign posted during the winter on my campus asking that non-handicapped students please not use the handicap access doors.
Posted by: dB | March 20, 2008 at 10:46 AM