Eco-Mode: NC State’s Path to Smarter Energy Use

Eco-Mode makes campus buildings more energy-efficient by aligning energy consumption with actual needs, achieving significant cost and emissions savings while also ensuring comfort, health, and safety for building occupants. Eco-Mode has three core strategies:

Building Tune-Ups

This behind-the-scenes effort by the Facilities Division ensures mechanical systems in campus buildings are not wasting energy. Simple data-driven adjustments optimize HVAC operations, typically yielding energy savings of 5 to 25 percent without major capital investment.

Smart Scheduling

Occupancy of campus buildings varies throughout the day and academic calendar. Smart Scheduling automatically adjusts HVAC and lighting to an energy-saving Eco-Mode setting during low-occupancy and returns to normal comfort settings before occupants arrive.

Smart Labs

Campus lab facilities are equipped with extra ventilation capabilities. Laboratory Ventilation Risk Assessments right-size ventilation levels with the operational needs of individual labs, creating a customized approach that enables energy efficiency when extra ventilation is not required.