Ronica Shannon
Going green has gotten Eastern Kentucky University a lot of attention, even making them a model for a similar University of Louisville project and a part of Gov. Steve Beshear’s comprehensive energy-savings plan.
Representatives from Siemens Industry Inc. were on EKU’s campus Monday to give an update on the state’s largest-ever performance contract, according to Dan Crowley, Appalachian zone manager for Siemens.
The sustainability project began on EKU’s campus in 2008, and is three-quarters finished. However, the energy savings already is starting to show, according to James Street, associate vice president for Capital Planning and Facilities Services for EKU.
“We are starting to see that drop (in utility bills) that was anticipated,” Street said at Monday’s project update conducted in the Keen Johnson Building. “We have seen very tangible results and have had a great deal of success with this project.”
Just one of the project’s several goals is to reduce the university’s $6.4 million annual utility budget by more than 40 percent.
Street shared a testimony from a faculty member who works in the Combs building, which is one of the 86 campus buildings included in the project to receive an energy efficiency makeover.
“We are very pleased with the modifications made by Siemens in the Combs Building,” according to the faculty member’s letter to Street. “We all have worked and resolved our heating and cooling temperature concerns. This was a critical issues in offices and classrooms.”
When the project is complete in March 2010, the overall savings on campus utilities should equal about $8,000 a day, according to Siemens’ projections.
The college will have invested about $27 million upon the completion of the project, however, no additional taxpayer dollars were used to finance this project, Crowley said.
“It’s financed based on the energy savings,” he said. “Siemens guarantees the results, and if the improvements do not produce the energy savings we promised, we will cut a check at the end of the year to make up the difference. In about 20 years of this type of business, we’ve guaranteed over $20 million worth of energy-savings work, and we’ve only had to return a fraction of a percent of those guarantees. I think we have an excellent track record of meeting our promises.”
Upon the project’s completion, the energy savings will be equivalent to preserving 227 acres of forest land, taking 6,229 cars off the road and preventing 179 rail cars of coal from being burned.
“This is just one part of what Eastern Kentucky University is trying to do to be a good steward of the environment,” said EKU President Doug Whitlock. “What’s more significant than the dollar savings is the positive impact on the environment. It’s going to significantly reduce this institutions carbon footprint. It’s going to reduce our contribution to a variety of greenhouse gases.”
Work remaining to be complete includes lighting upgrades across campus, which should be completed just before Christmas break, according to Michael Azzara, who represents Siemens’ building technologies division.
“We’re touching almost all the buildings on campus,” Azzara said. “We spent so much time working cooperatively with facility services. We had a very good idea of what we were getting into. Throughout the entire campus, we’ve replaced almost all of the lighting technology from incandescent to a much more energy efficient fluorescent lighting.”
Visit www.eku.edu/ green and click on “Siemens Energy Savings” to learn more about the project.
Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.
