Many universities have been “going green” over the past several years for environmental reasons, but the cost-savings from energy conservation and efficiency are giving universities even more incentive during the economic downturn. "Energy conservation increases with the cost of fuels,” said Brown University’s Vice President for Facilities Management Stephen Maiorisi. “It forces you to look harder and more strategically at how to conserve energy.” Energy reports at Brown in 2007 spurred students and staff to lower energy consumption and launch a major retrofitting campaign to conserve energy on a larger scale through improvements to building infrastructure. With the help of the Community Carbon Use Reduction group’s education and retrofitting programs, Brown lowered its carbon usage by 7.7 percent since 2007. Students and faculty at Boston College are running the Green Campaign to educate students about energy consumption on campus. Their recommendations include to turn off printers overnight and unplug power cords and electronics chargers when not in use.  Boston College has also made efforts to switch to more energy-efficient lighting and is currently assessing all campus buildings to begin the retrofitting process.

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