Reducing the Use of Automatic Doors

For our project we tried to reduce the use of automatic doors in Hunt Library by 50% over a given period. After monitoring people entering Hunt Library for an hour during peak hours, we were able to determine that 38% of people entering the building pushed the automatic button and 93.75% of the people pushing the automatic button were physically able. We also calculated that this rate of automatic door use would result in 218 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. We used signs placed on foam core to deter users from pushing the button. Three different signs were tested out over the same time period, and the best sign resulted in a drop of automatic door usage to 19.5%, which was pretty close to our ideal drop of 50%. This sign guilt tripped users into using the manual door by letting them know that they are one of the 93.75% of physically able users. The sign could have probably had a better effect if it was placed for a longer amount of time and in multiple locations. This would allow more people to see the sign and read its message.