Swing-Shift Engineer Ted Hoffman can manage systems at every campus from one computer at the Department of General Services
As the Spring semester comes to a close, and the District faces an estimated $12M budget shortfall, Peralta operating engineers tightens the operating schedule of heating, air conditioning, and lighting systems to be lean as possible through the summer.
“We’re shutting everything down on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, all the way through the end of July,” reports swing-shift engineer Ted Hoffman. Normally, the engineers leave the systems on humming on a low-level, shutting down the campuses only during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. He estimates that these more drastic measure could save the District $92,000 through July on electrical costs alone.
In addition to the weekend shutdowns, campus engineers are also taking down mechanical systems at 6pm instead of 10pm on non-teaching days (Spring Break, Flex Days, and in-between semesters). None of these shut-downs affect emergency systems or 24-hour safety lighting as required by state laws.
When the call went out for District-wide budget cuts, Director of Maintenance and Operations Bob Beckwith immediately tasked his engineering staff with implementing the schedule changes for weekends. Vice Chancellor of General Services Dr. Sadiq B. Ikharo further pushed their department to implement campus shutdowns on all Fridays through July.
This gave the engineers the perfect opportunity to program a schedule into the central computer. Before the programmed calendar, the engineers stationed at the campus had to change settings for each individual system. That left a lot of room for error. Says Hoffman, “I sat there for a week, entering holidays and special days. Oh-my-God it was tedious, but when I was done, (sigh) I felt good… it’s much easier now to control [everything].”
Not sure who to send this to, but -
Leaving a comment about the lighting a Merritt College. There are new streetlights in the parking lots and the loop road around the back of the athletic fields. I frequently walk up the Leona Canyon trail and pass the new photovoltaic plant (cool!) and often see these new lighting systems on DURING THE DAY! First off, it seems counterproductive to install solar power systems, and then next to it new lighting that essentially nobody uses. Second off for these lights to be on during the day is just wasteful. I just returned and exterior lighting all over the campus – from parking lots, to building emg lamps, to that mentioned useless loop – were all turned on – AT 12 NOON! Come on, I am paying for this with my taxes.
irritated,
James Lambert