The lights may be on inside the university bookstore at night, but energy is not being wasted.  Llisa Lewis, bookstore manager, said the bookstore is lit at night, but not all the way.

When the bookstore employees leave at night and the alarm is set, the settings change automatically, she said.

All of the lights inside the bookstore are on timers to increase and decrease intensity throughout the night, Lewis said. The university parking lots employ a similar timer system.

According to the university’s sustainability program’s website, the university has spent over $43 million since 1996 on energy conservation.

One change is the installation of energy efficient lights and controls campuswide. Motion sensors have also been added to automatically turn off lights when no one is in the room.

The bookstore kept lights on as a security measure to prevent break-ins, Lewis said.

“We do conserve as much energy as we can, within the confines of security,” she said.

Environmental science club president and sophomore geology major Brooke Long said she did not think the lights were necessary even if they are dimmed. They should be turned off so energy is not wasted, she said.

“There are plenty of TCU police that are going around monitoring the campus. I don’t believe that it would be a security problem with the lights being off,” she said.

Although some buildings on campus use environmentally conscious tactics, the university should strive for all buildings to be green, Long said.

According to the sustainability program, in 2011 the university was ranked by the Princeton Review as one of three green colleges in Texas.

“Given TCU’s policy, everything is long-lasting, self-perpetuating and green as it can be,” Lewis said.

The bookstore is university run and follows 100 percent of university standards, she said.

“There are some things we can do, and those are the things like in your own home that we strive to do,” Lewis said.

The escalators, music, intercom and even calculators are all powered off at night to conserve as much energy as possible, she said.

It is a give and take, which means some power needs to remain on while others can be shut down, Lewis said.