Fresh Loaf

Students and faculty at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School may have the luxury of being mere footsteps from all the downtown salad bars and panhandlers one could hope for, but they have the misfortune of being located in one of the Georgia Building Authority’s properties.

The state agency, forced to scale back expenses in light of Georgia’s $1.6 billion shortfall, recently started setting thermostats in the school’s building to Hades highs. Come winter they’ll be set to Siberian lows. (ba-da-zing!)

From an e-mail addressed to what seems like 98,324 people, according to the recipient list, sent out by an employee who’s got a good sense of humor about something totally out of their control :

Good warmer afternoon all,

I have had many complains/questions/concerns today regarding the warm offices/work areas and the only answer I had for each caller was, “We are going green”.

I know I, as many of you, have become accustom to having much cooler office temperatures. However, as of yesterday, September 2, 2008, the luxury of cooler office temperature may now be referred to as ‘the good old days’….

Copied below is GBA’s reminder of the new regulations and recommend practices….

And now, the rest is up to you!

If you have any questions/concerns regarding this matter, please
contact me.

Ah, yes. When the state goes broke, we gotta ‘go green.’ Perhaps if the governor and his bean counters weren’t so optimistic in their revenue projections, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with, eh? And just what temperature is the governor’s mansion these days, boss? How about retrofitting those windows down there with some insulated models? Fret not, students and faculty of GSU, for we feel your pain. Or at least I do. I sleep in my car, with the engine running, Japanese-engineered air conditioning blowing on my face. Gas bills are a pain but I wake up to the sunrise!

After the jump, the e-mail from the authority to its sweltering tenants.

REMINDER:

The Georgia Building Authority, like all state agencies, is dedicated to reducing expenses on behalf of the citizens of the State of Georgia.

In an effort to reduce energy expenses on Capitol Hill, we will adjust air temperatures in all Capitol Hill buildings effective Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008.

This means thermostats will be set to 78 degrees in warmer months and 68 degrees in cooler months. The 78 degree setting reflects a 2 to 4 degree increase over the current settings while the 68 degree setting reflects a similar decrease in temperature.

We hope all state workers will join us in this conservation endeavor.

To assist in ensuring proper temperatures are met, it is necessary to prohibit the use of personal heaters and fans. This will allow the system to properly control the temperatures. Additionally, air conditioning and heating systems will turn on 30 minutes later and will turn off 30 minutes earlier each day.

We also ask all state employees to join GBA in adopting the following practices:

• Minimize use of personal appliances and unplug appliances when not in use.

• As appropriate, replace work-related office equipment with Energy Star products.

• Daily shut-down of all non-essential office equipment at the close of business, including computers.

• Use of only compact fluorescent lights (CFLÆs) in all personal desk lamps and task lighting.

• Maximize use of natural lighting whenever possible.

• Please turn off office lights when you are exiting the office or room for more than 15 minutes.

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Tags: Energy efficiency, georgia budget crisis, Georgia Building Authority, Georgia State budget, Georgia State University, Global-Warming, Gov. Sonny Perdue, State Budget, Summer.