For the fifth year in a row, WKU will take a “Conservation Vacation.”

The goal of the initiative is to reduce the consumption of electricity when the majority of campus off-campus.

Charlie Jones, director of Facilities Management, said in an email sent to faculty and staff Wednesday letting them know what the energy shutdown event entails and how they can help by doing things like unplugging their personal items.

“The Conservation Vacation has become a Hilltopper tradition and has resulted in substantial energy savings, owed to the combined efforts of the entire campus community,” Jones said.

Jones suggested faculty and staff turn off lights, unplug computers and printers and unplug power chargers for electronic devices that will use power even when turned off while they are on break.

Other items that are shut down or turned off include refrigerators, water heaters, drinking fountains and anything that might use energy while people aren’t on campus, Plant Operations manager Dale Dyer said.

Another component of the shut down is turning off the lights of parking lots on the outskirts of campus or go unused over break.

The email Jones sent said some parking lots, such as Parking Structures 1 and 2, will have reduced light except during game days in Diddle Arena.

Maintenance Services manager Charles Harrison said that lights are shut off to conserve energy and costs.

“We keep several internal campus ones on for international students that will be here over the holiday season and not going home, as well as professors that like to come in and do limited work over the holidays and so forth or check on their experiments,” Harrison said. “It’s been a very successful program for us over the past few years.”