MILWAUKEE – Saving energy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) will be a fun, competitive activity starting this fall. A new energy dashboard system, installed in the UWM residence halls, will allow students to effectively monitor electrical and other utility use.
To officially start the competition, Michael Murray, CEO of Lucid Design Group, Inc., will speak to UWM students and faculty on Wednesday, Oct. 13. Murray then will launch the UWM University Housing Energy Dashboard at 4 p.m. at Cambridge Commons, 2323 N. Cambridge Ave.
“UWM will be the first campus in Wisconsin to use the Lucid Design Group technology to create a real-time energy dashboard, a system that will enhance the competitions between our residence halls,” says Scott Peak, Director of University Housing.
Lucid Design Group is a privately held software company, founded in 2004, and a pioneer in providing real-time information feedback to teach, inspire behavior change, and save energy and water resources in buildings. Over the past six years, Lucid’s team has endeavored to make resource use visible, accessible and engaging so that building occupants have the data visualization and communication tools to manage and reduce their consumption.
The Lucid system was first installed in Cambridge Commons, UWM’s new 700-bed residence hall. The Lucid technology captures real-time energy use data and provides students with the ability to see how their behavior impacts energy consumption. The Web-based system uses “friendly competitions” between residence halls as an effective way to reduce energy.
Other universities using the software in residence halls report between 20 and 30 percent energy savings. The local distributor of the Lucid Design Group system, Uihlein Electric, has been active in the system installation and staff training during the fall semester.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information about the UWM energy dashboard, visit http://www.buildingdashboard.com/clients/uwm/.
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(Contact: University Housing, (414) 229-6589; studenoa@uwm.edu)
