Riverside, Calif., January, 2001-- In this time of power emergencies and rolling blackouts, plus voluntary reductions in power usage at some Inland Empire schools and colleges, you may be wondering, "Could the lights go out on La Sierra University?"
YES. (And no.)

According to Charles Nelson, director of La Sierra University’s physical plant, LSU has a contract with the City of Riverside, which guarantees a certain kilowatt-per-hour rate, plus long-term power delivery. The power we use is bought from neighboring states, not from financially troubled PG&E, or Edison. The City has asked us to do all we can to save energy.

Riverside utilities have set up a list of circuits, or areas of the city, which could face blackouts in a critical power shortage. La Sierra is not on this list, but things could change, Nelson said, particularly if utility companies "pirate" the power supply destined for Riverside and its utility consumers. If a power company sees that their company is facing a critical shortage, they could hijack the power to their facility for their customers.

If blackouts do happen, they generally last between 20 and 90 minutes. The blackouts would not be announced, according to Doug Nophsker, director of security, because they would also be notices to criminals that alarms would be dead, lights would be out, and some offices or homes might be easy pickings for bad guys. If a blackout happened for a longer period of time, the University has several generators to power up; and the dorms have propane lanterns.

If you’re concerned about saving open files on your computer, you should set the application to Auto Save in your preferences, or save the file manually every 5 minutes. Learn the keystroke for Save, which on a PC is Control S, or on a Macintosh is Apple S. Every time you pause in composition, do a save. It’s better to have the computer off completely during a blackout. Some departments have a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) system, which gives you time to save and shut down properly.

Conservation
The television and radio news speak often of what to do if a blackout hits: unplug or shut off electrical appliances to prevent power surges when the juice comes back on, keep fresh batteries in the flashlight, etc.

The best way to prevent a blackout is to conserve energy where possible in the first place!

• When we leave our offices in the evening, computers and peripheral equipment should be shut down, rather than left on. If everyone did that (there are about 500 computers on campus), LSU would save several hundred dollars a month on the electric bill.
• If you’ll be out of the office for an hour or more, it would be well to use a sleep mode rather than the screen saver.
• Laser printers gobble power. Shut them off if you’re not printing regularly or frequently.
• Lights in offices and classrooms should be switched off when not in use.
• Consolidate sack lunches or juice bottles to one refrigerator in your building or department, rather than keeping a fridge running all the time to keep a lunch cool once or twice a week.
• Heat and air conditioning thermostats are determined by building users, but turning the thermostat to 68 degrees would be helpful. Space heaters gobble electricity, and they trip breakers so everyone loses power. In some buildings here, space heaters are outlawed. Keep office doors closed to preserve heat in offices, because hallways are not heated.

At home, consider energy savings by unplugging chest freezers; turning off yard spotlights; drying your laundry on a clothesline (perhaps strung across garage rafters); opening the dishwasher to air dry after final rinse; turning off lights as you leave a room; unplugging the VCR and stereo equipment; shutting down home computer after use; using extra blankets and turning the thermostat cooler at night; pulling drapes closed at night to stop heat loss or cold drafts; weather stripping, etc. If you do use major appliances, or run a pool pump, please use them in early morning or late evening, when demand is somewhat less.

One huge energy savings that Edison won’t advertise, but works wonderfully, is changing your home electric meter to a Time of Use (TOU) meter. Between 6 pm and 10 am weekdays, and all day on weekends (called off-peak hours), the kilowatt per-hour rate is a third less than its regular domestic rate. (Of course, the on-peak kwh rate is a couple of cents higher, which encourages you to run appliances and energy guzzlers when it’s cheap.) You and your family can learn to be your own load controllers!

Conserving energy may cause you inconvenience, but comfort yourself that you’re being socially responsible and patriotic!

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