Sunday, April 20, 2008
Students have asked trustees to implement a fee to fund environmental projects.
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — Slippery Rock University hopes to cut its energy and maintenance costs as much as $200,000 a year through some extensive heating and air-conditioning upgrades and other projects.
The board of trustees has approved a $4.5 million contract with BCS, a Tonawanda, N.Y.-based energy savings consultant that handles energy savings and deferred maintenance projects.
“Overall, the combined projects could result in an energy and maintenance savings totaling between $175,000 and $200,000 per year,” said Scott Albert, director of facilities and planning.
The plan, which makes use of the Pennsylvania Guaranteed Energy Savings Act passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, allows state agencies to enter into agreements with energy consultants that then handle energy savings and deferred maintenance projects ranging from renovation to a building’s lighting system, plumbing upgrades, water conservation projects, heating and cooling system replacements and roof replacement.
“All projects will take advantage of the latest energy-saving building materials and control systems,” Albert said.
Trustees were told that utility costs represent 3.1 percent of the university’s overall $118 million budget, or about $3.6 million a year. Under electric pricing deregulation, the university expects its electrical costs will increase an average of 12 percent over the next two years, a factor in prompting the trustees to look for savings.
“By entering into this plan, the university improves its stewardship of energy usage and saves money at the same time,” Albert said.
The next step will be for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to approve SRU’s plan, and approval is expected at the board’s meeting later this month. The project list will then be finalized and is likely to include a roof replacement project for the Pearl K. Stoner Instructional Complex, extensive heating and air-conditioning system upgrades in various campus buildings and other energy-related upgrades.
“The list will include about 11 projects,” Albert said, adding that the work is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
In a related item, trustees heard a presentation by student representatives of the Green Fund, a campus grass-roots effort to further increase the university’s environmental awareness and energy conservation plans.
The students have planned a three-day referendum vote this month seeking student support for a “Green Fee” of about $5 per semester on the 8,000 students enrolled to create an $80,000-per-year fund to be used on green projects on campus. The proposal will require the approval of both the trustees and the state higher education system.