Rankings by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy in late October named Minnesota the 10th best state in the nation for energy efficiency, and St. Thomas is doing its part to contribute to the reputation.

Bob Douglas, central receiving chair of the Sustainability Committee, said leadership and education in Minnesota are two reasons why the state has become a leader for energy efficiency in the Midwest.

“We have people in office who see the need for energy efficiency, that that’s a sustainable thing,” Douglas said. “I think we also have a very educated population, and they’re aware of the whole idea (that) basing all of our economy on carbon fuels is a limited future, and it’s a rise in expense.”

Sophomore Alexis Millo said she thinks this ranking will inspire people to save more energy.

“If Minnesota is really good at what it does, it will raise more awareness to other people about how to (be more eco-friendly),” Millo said. “I’m not from Minnesota, so it’s kind of cool that I get to be in a state where I can be more open to those things.”

Douglas said St. Thomas has been making the campus more energy efficient for years by switching out single-speed heating and air conditioning motors for variable speed motors in all campus buildings, which allows for heating or cooling systems that take up less energy.

He added that replacing fluorescent lights with LED ones, using electric vehicles instead of gas and changing out regular printers to ones that print on both sides of the paper are all moves St. Thomas has made over the years to save energy.

According to Douglas, another ongoing plan involves analyzing campus buildings and doing maintenance every three years to make them more energy efficient.

“They go and look at the way things work: how the lights work, the way the heating works, the air conditioning works, the venting works, how much energy is escaping through the windows, for example,” Douglas said. “They basically tune up the buildings so they’re running more efficiently, and that saves energy.”

Douglas said advanced lighting systems are another thing that make St. Thomas an eco-friendly institution. Lights in the Anderson Student Center have motion and infrared sensors that turn them off when the room is empty, and lights in Opus Hall on the Minneapolis campus sense and adjust to natural lighting.

“The ones closest to the windows will dim as the sun comes up, so when there’s full light the lights shut off,” he said.

According to Douglas, students can help save energy by recycling.

“For all of us, it saves energy when we recycle. Recycling is a commodity of the future,” Douglas said.

Sophomore Karina Cuate-Ramirez said she was surprised Minnesota is doing so well when it comes to saving energy, especially because she doesn’t see as much recycling in the Twin Cities as she would like.

“I know you can walk down the street, and you see trash cans everywhere, especially in the cities, but you don’t really see recycling things everywhere,” Cuate-Ramirez said.

Douglas also recommended students turn computers off at night or put them on sleep mode, print on both sides of paper and refrain from opening windows when the heat is on. He said using excessive energy steals from the future.

“If we make good energy saving choices now, it is a brighter – literally a brighter – future for everyone,” he said. “I know technology is moving towards having all kinds of apps and things like that, but it’s just healthy sometimes just to enjoy life without all these energy sources … So every once in a while, turn it off.”

Jamie Bernard can be reached at bern2479@stthomas.edu.