Published: March 05, 2008 08:34 am

Saving some green by being green

EKU’s energy-saving contract will save $22M

Bryan Marshall
Register News Writer

Eastern Kentucky University soon could be saving $6,200 per day in energy costs through a campus-wide facility energy efficiency project.

President Doug Whitlock announced Tuesday a partnership with Siemens Building Technologies for a $22 million, 12-year energy savings performance contract.

Through the alliance, EKU officials will begin reducing their annual $5.8 million utilities budget by at least 30 percent when the project is formalized in July.

The cost reduction of nearly $2.3 million annually will be possible through energy-efficient lighting, water-conserving technologies and methods, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system retrofits, building automation and employee training.

"This is truly a great day for Eastern Kentucky University," Whitlock said. "We're announcing something that is very good business in an economic sense, but it’s also good business in an environmental sense."

"We need, especially in the current situation we find ourselves in economically, to be good stewards of the public's money," he said. "This project gets us well along the way in that regard."

Whitlock described the collaboration as "one of the very largest energy-savings projects ever undertaken at a public institution in this country."

"Not everything on this campus is new and shiny," he said. "We have a lot of aging infrastructure. We have a lot of components in our energy consumption patterns that were designed and built in an era in which energy efficiency was not the concern. We certainly didn't have the technological capabilities. That's a good part about what this project is going to correct."

Three years ago, former President Joanne Glasser appointed a Committee for Responsible Environ-mental Stewardship, which developed a strategic plan that included improving energy efficiency throughout campus.

"There did not seem at the time to be a means of addressing all of (the strategic plan) in one program," said James Street, associate vice president of EKU's Capital Planning and Facilities Management. "The project we're rolling out will address all of it in one swoop."

EKU's investment in sustainability will yield great benefits, said Berndt Baumgartl, vice president of Siemens.

"It's important to understand that the entire projected $22 million in facility improvements -- the largest in this state to ever be done -- will be funded not by additional tax dollars, not by any endowments, nor by any of the traditional means of paying for such programs," he said.

"The program will be financed based on energy savings the upgrades and retrofits produce," Baumgartl said. "In fact, Siemens guarantees the results. If the improvements do not produce the savings promised, we will cut a check at the end of the year to make up the difference."

Once completed, annual energy savings are anticipated to produce a corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 76 million pounds of carbon dioxide, more than 122,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides and more than 403,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide.

"When the new systems are up and running, school administrators will be in a much better situation operationally," Baumgartl said. "They can focus less on facilities and more on the curriculum."

Bryan Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@richmondregister.com or 624-6691.