Furman in the '70s: bicycles, cool showers and an energy czar
Watergate, bell bottoms, halter tops and the Brady Bunch. For many of us, these images come to mind when conjuring up memories of the early 1970s.
But ask Tyler Seymour and his recollections of funky fashions and political turmoil are only fleeting. The energy crisis is what he really remembers. As the director of Furman's Physical Plant (now Facilities Services) from 1966 to 1981, Seymour watched the university's energy costs skyrocket during the early '70s as a result of the OPEC (Oil Producing Exporting Countries) oil embargo and rising fuel costs.
"It was a tough time at Furman, just as it was everywhere else," says Seymour, now retired and living in Greenville. "But it taught us to be innovative."
The energy crunch forced the university to scrutinize electricity and gas consumption. As a result, Furman adopted several policies that helped reduce on-campus energy usage by about 30 percent in two years.
Although the current jump in energy costs has not reached the level of the '70s crisis, it is having a significant impact on the university's budget.
Doug Lange, director of Facilities Services, says prices for natural gas (used for food preparation and heating) have increased 30 to 50 percent during the past year. Electricity rates, though, have remained fairly stable.
He says that lighting and HVAC usage each account for about 40 percent of the Furman's energy bill, while plug-in devises consume the remaining 20 percent. When the energy shortage took hold almost three decades ago, Seymour says that he and Wayne Weaver, then vice president for business affairs, attended several conferences and meetings to learn how other colleges were coping with the crisis.
Working with faculty and students, Seymour and Weaver helped form an energy conservation committee that served as a sounding board for energy conservation ideas.
"We tried to education everyone through involvement," says Seymour.
In 1973, the university purchased a computer that controlled heating and cooling systems throughout campus from its station in Plyler Hall. Workers also used the system to shut down cooling and heating systems during non-peak hours.
The Physical Plant set all university thermostats to 69 degrees in the winter and 80 degrees in the summer, burned a cheaper grade of oil in university boilers, and set the "bathing" water temperature in the hot water heaters a few degrees lower. The department also purchased six bicycles that maintenance personnel used to get around campus.
"We used those bikes for three years or more and made the best use of them," says Seymour.
In those days Furman also had an "energy czar," Phil Simpson, who monitored energy consumption, consulted with other colleges and encouraged university departments to conserve energy.
Seymour says that conservation efforts were embraced early on, but attitudes chilled as the crisis lengthened.
"When we went into it, people were very understanding," he says, "but after three or four years everyone was a little less patriotic."
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Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.