From the 2010 Alliance to Save Energy Green Campus Energy Efficiency Summit – Greening the Campus, Building the Workforce

1. Laundry Efficiency Pilot Initiative
Stanford University Green Campus Program

2. LAUNDRY EFFICIENCY PILOT PROFILE
• WHAT: Education and outreach to campus laundry facility
users on efficient laundry practices.
• WHY: Inform/educate campus residents; Realize energy/
water savings; Convince Stanford Housing to actively
support these practices in the residence halls.
• WHO: SGCP; Stanford Housing
• WHEN: Fall Quarter 2009
• WHERE: Studios Apartments

3. SOWING THE SEED FOR THIS PILOT
• Suggestion of departing Sustainability Manager (Nick Kaestner)
• Laundry facility user study (2007)
– Graduate student research project
– Survey of 124 individuals across 6 undergraduate residences
– 3 month data collection in houses with low to high washing practices
(based on # monthly loads/resident)
– Key findings:
• Majority (67%) reported sorting clothes for warm/hot water cycles
• 28% did so out of habit; 49% did so on account of color bleeding
• 85% couldn’t tell a real difference between hot and cold cycles
• 52% would consider line/rack drying
• Overall conclusion: Affecting laundry use patterns could take
relatively little education and awareness building

4. PROJECT PLANNING
• Project Scoping Meetings:
– Stanford Housing
– WEB: The washer/dryer rental company
– Green Living Coordinators
• Meeting Outcomes:
– Housing can be a key project champion. Housing staff have
access to energy use data, they can influence the laundry
equipment vendor, and are open to expanding pilot efforts.
– WEB agreed to semi-adhesive (static) stickers
– Identified Studios Graduate Complex as attractive target for pilot

5. PILOT LAUNCH
• Placing static
stickers atop
washers
• Informational
tabling
• Resident
laundry
attitudes &
usage survey

6. RESIDENT SURVEY RESULTS
• 90 Studios residents responded
• 80% of respondents noticed the
static stickers
• 87% reported sorting clothes for
warm/hot water washes
• 45% reported switching to cold
water washing
• 42% reported a preference to
line/rack dry clothes

7. PILOT EXPANSION
• As a result of resident
survey, the team
purchased 10 drying
racks for Studios
residents to check-out
• Rack usage/
frequency tracking to
occur in winter
quarter

8. PILOT IMPACTS/METRICS
• Annualized, based on November 2009 usage data and results
of resident attitude & usage survey:
* Assumes 20% Studios residents switch to cold water only wash cycles 1/week.

9. LESSONS LEARNED
• Recruit project volunteers for broader
education/outreach
• Include samples of cold water detergent
as incentive and attention grabber
• Data/metering challenges: Laundry
facilities not all metered separately from
living areas (so natural gas reading can
include heating, showers and washers.)
• More intentional planning on an integrated
(washing and drying) approach
• Remain vigilant for potential roadblocks:
Approval of equipment vendor; Housing/
Res Life policies (e.g.: appropriate use of
drying racks)

10. PROJECT RECOGNITION
Katherine Heflin and the 2009 Stanford Green Campus Team
Email: greencampus@lists.stanford.edu