THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
NIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Preparing for the Gill era
The football team looks toward a new year with a new coach. THE WAVE | INSIDE
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010
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VOLUME 121 ISSUE 145
Daniel Johnson/KANSAN
Mike Watkins, senior plumber for Facilities Operations, takes meter readings for Anshutz Library Monday. In 2009 the University spent about $10.3 million on steam, natural gas and electrical energy.
Campus energy audit
Facilities Operations monitor meters for energy consumption
BY BRENNA LONG
blong@kansan.com
For an entire day each month, Josh Hackathorn, instrumentation technician with Facilities Operations at the University, treks to every building on campus to read its meter. He jots down the line of numbers — sometimes as many as seven numbers — that represents how much steam power
the building sucked up for the month.
The 12 men who work in this sector of Facilities Operations play an important role in the way energy is used on campus, yet often they go unnoticed.
Energy consumption, including the steam power the meters measure, costs millions of dollars for the University every year, so the job of tracking it is vital. In 2009, the
"We have the meters in an order that we do them," Hackathorn said.
No map exists that shows where the meters are located, but after five years of experience Hackathorn has a mental map of the meters' locations on campus.
Changes in the numbers on the meters signal a red flag that something is awry. This gives Facilities Operations a chance to fix the problem before it burns through more energy. The workers who read the meters can sometimes tell when the numbers aren't right, but it's the job of steam shop supervisor Vernon
University spent about $10.3 million on energy, said Scott McVey, energy conservation and utility manager at the University. That energy consumption also spans electrical and natural gas used campus-wide.
"Every penny the cost of electricity goes up, that means more than a million dollars for the University," McVey said.
"Meter reading is a pretty ho-hum job," said Haid, who has been plant supervisor for the past 20 years. "But I think it is an important thing because then we know where we are at and how much steam we are using."
Haid to conduct a line-by-line audit of the numbers.
After Haid has a complete list of the meter readings for the month he double checks any discrepancies or "dyslexia" as he calls it, and he sends the paperwork to McVey who then has the job of tracking all the energy used.
SEE ENERGY ON PAGE 3A
LAWRENCE
Valeri Skubal/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Tickets pile up because of an unpaid meter on Massachusetts Street. City commissioners voted to put in four 15-minute meters in each block of downtown. Business owners who supported the ordinance said they hoped it would allow easier access for in-and-out shoppers.
New meters will allow easy access
BY ALEESE KOPF
akopf@kansan.com
Students can expect to see new 15-minute parking meters in downtown Lawrence in the coming months.
see new 15-minute parking meters in downtown Lawrence in the coming months. At Tuesday's city commission meeting, commissioners approved an ordinance that will place four 15-minute meters in the middle of each block downtown. The ordinance was generated after a request by several downtown business owners, including Meritrust Credit Union Branch Manager Chris Lowery, who said that 15-minute meters would increase turnover and make it easier for the public to have quick access to stores on Murrayville Street.
City commissioner Robert Chestnut said it was a good thing to experiment with and that it was something the commission had wanted to try to for the convenience of quick shopper.
Although the majority of the commissioners supported the advantages in convenience with the new meters, others
such as Mayor Mike Amyx, expressed some concern. Amyx voted against the ordinance.
"I think that one of the things that is concerning to me is to make sure we're not actually taking away parking," he said.
Amyx said adding 15-minute meters may just take away from already limited parking spots because any of the two-hour meters could be used as short-term meters anyway.
Serene Hakin, a junior from Overland Park, said she visited downtown several times a week and usually stayed down there for more than 15 minutes. She said that most of the time if she needed to just run into a store or grab something quickly, she wouldn't even put money into a meter. If she did, it was usually only a nickel.
The new 15 minute meters will cost $0.25 for 15 minutes, while the regular two hour meters provide 30 minutes at the same co*
SEE METER ON PAGE 3A
STUDENT SENATE
anniev@kansan.com
BY ANNIE VANGSNES anniev@kansan.com
Taking a look back at platform promises
As new senators with new platform issues move into office tonight, here's a look at United Students' progress on its campaign platforms for its 2009- 2010 term.
STUDENT SERVICES
Student Body President Mason Heilman said one of the biggest successes was the coalition's platform to create a financial planning center.
The center will open on the third floor of the Kansas Union next school year.
Heilman said students would be able to stop in to get advice on personal finances such as credit cards, loans and bank options.
"There are a lot of students who get out of high school and have never balanced a check
book before," Heilman said.
The center will have a full-time director, student employees and possibly volunteers. He
said United Students hadn't figured out all the employment specifics yet.
STUDENT TICKET PRICES
Heilman
United Students also proposed to lower the all sports combo ticket price by elimi
Davis
index
nating win
ter break games from the pass because many students couldn't
SEE PLATFORMS ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds. 3B Opinion. 5A
Crossword. 4A Sports. 1B
Horoscopes. 4A Sudoku. 4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
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