​Power Conservation

KFUPM strives to manage all of its operations to ensure that our institution is undertaking the most sustainable manner –as long as practicable- in utilizing energy sources, and at the same time providing an environment that encourages learning, teaching, and research. Our goals here at KFUPM to manage energy consumption are:

• Reduces energy consumption per employee without compromising working conditions and productivity.
• Minimizes the emission of pollutants into the environment.
• Promotes the use of renewable energy in order to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.
• Encourages community involvement in power conservation programs in campus.

In order to achieve those goals, we are working together with people from other departments such as Maintenance Department and Projects Department. We have seen that our campus is progressing steadily –a number ofnew buildings and facilities have been built- in the recent years; however, the yearly average consumption is being maintained at the same level of the previous year. This achievement had shown significant progress in KFUPM efforts to cut down the power consumption.

Here are just a few of power conservation initiatives that we implement in campus:

1. Using occupancy sensors along with the lighting and HVAC. These sensors switch off the lighting and increase the set temperature if the room is not occupied. This type of sensors mostly installed in all new buildings.
2. We have started replacing the normal incandescent lamps with energy saving CFL and LED lamps in some buildings. However, this initiative still is in its beginning stage since this type of lamps is expensive and there are some technical issues which have to be considered.
3. Photoelectric cells and timers have been used for the external lighting (roads, parking, playgrounds, academic and support buildings).
4. Installing variable frequency devices (VFDs) for pumps and A/C units. VFD adjusts the speed of an HVAC fan or pump motor based on the load which will accordingly decrease the power consumption by a percentage depending on instantaneous load.
5. All new buildings are using thermal insulation for the ceiling and walls. This initiative may reduce the AC power consumption up to 40%.
6. Installing automatic temperature control which overrides the setting temperature after working hours.