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        Those gas prices sure are going up as you try to squeeze yet another mile out of the gas in your car. Conserving the energy in your home, turning off lights, turning down the thermostat and ultimately conserving the money in your wallet is high on the list to concentrate on as well.

        Things aren't so different for the university either. A special thanks goes out to the disastrous 2004-2005 hurricane season.

        UWF has implemented various energy conservation methods outlined in a mass e-mail to faculty and staff from President John Cavanaugh. He urged the faculty to "continue to adopt as many of these measures as are practical to your situation. We must work together to reduce our aggregate consumption of energy."

        These methods include but are not limited to using mainly e-mail instead of paper for memos, turning off appliances such as coffeepots and microwaves overnight and reusing paper to conserve the natural resources we have. These among others are good advice measures given out by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Management Services.

        Cavanaugh has gone so far as to set in place flexible work hours for the university employees that fully comply with university policy and "ensure continuity of operations within the department and through out the five day work week."

        Argoride has been created to encourage carpooling for students, faculty and staff alike. Students can log onto their Web site at https://nautical.uwf.edu/argolife/argoride. Temperatures in the buildings will now be slightly warmer in the summers and slightly cooler in the winter months. Hours of several offices are cut back to accommodate the imposed changes.

The Post office, for example, has cut in half the number of campus runs and the runs between campuses to conserve gasoline. They are one of the highest users of the resource next to the police department and landscaping/ building services.

"We are about the third highest user of gasoline on campus. We are a major user. This is one way we can help contribute to save UWF's money and its resources," said Post Office coordinator Jack Broach.

On campus students have found a change in the dining facilities to comply with the conservation measures.  Hours of operations have slightly varied as well as the number of personnel working to help minimize the unnecessary output of energy.

Argo Grill is closed for now and the outlining facilities such as the new Terra Juice in the HLRS building and the sub station in Building 86 have limited hours once again to accommodate the energy conservation methods according to Senior Director of Dining Greg Moran.

Although the university allots a whopping $700,000 for energy consumption, the president; in an e-mail to faculty and staff, said he expects the cost to exceed the budget for this year.

"There are several reasons for this: inadequate oil supplies worldwide as a result of uncertainties in the Middle East, hurricane damage to offshore drilling faculties, an increase in our electric rates and significant rate increases for natural gas," said Cavanaugh. "With the return of the Field House and our beautiful new Health Leisure and Sports recreation facilities in full operation, our consumption of energy has also increased."

Conservation was taken into effect; however, building these new facilities in that they have energy efficient lighting and motion sensors to reduce energy output when unnecessary.

Despite a vicious hurricane season UWF did not all of a sudden decide to get conscience of these issues. The university has been environmentally conscious for decades.

 UWF was designated as a nature preserve back in 1965 and has continuously added plants and trees each year in their annual "Spring into Action" event to replace and conserve a natural resource.

"The university has always had conservation measures in place to protect our resources and save our energy," said Janice Holmes, Marketing Services. "The president has reminded employees, students and staff of options to conserve energy for both work and home as natural gas and gasoline prices climb higher."

Long-term goals are certainly a question of the future, as if these measures will last and will be put into place more over time.

"We strive to implement appropriate measures while maintaining our student-centered focus being environmentally conscious, and protecting our natural wildlife preserve," said Holmes. " Our ultimate goal is to create a sustainable environment so the beauty of our campus remains for future generations."

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