Eastern Kentucky University Energy Efficiency Project Grows to $27 Million After Siemens Building Technologies Identifies New Sa
September 29 2008 - 10:41AM
PR Newswire (US)
Energy audit review reveals additional system upgrades will cut
energy use nearly in half BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., Sept. 29
/PRNewswire/ -- Eastern Kentucky University will be reducing its
carbon impact and its energy bill even more than it anticipated
last spring when the school announced plans to team with Siemens
Building Technologies, Inc., and embark on a comprehensive program
designed to boost the energy efficiency of facilities campus wide.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO )
After Siemens completed its energy audit of EKU facilities, a
thorough review of its findings with the University's facility
management staff revealed that an additional $5 million in upgrades
to energy-intensive systems would yield significantly higher
savings--more than enough to cost-justify the now larger, $27
million investment. The performance-based sustainability project
will be financed by a lease which will be paid back over a 13-year
period from the energy savings guaranteed by Siemens once the
system upgrades are completed. Eastern Kentucky University
President Dr. Doug Whitlock announced his decision to increase the
scope of the project August 19 after reviewing the revised plan.
"The Siemens sustainability project at Eastern Kentucky University
is simply good business, from both an economic and environmental
perspective. I'm pleased that the Siemens project has positioned
EKU as a leader in energy efficiency in the Commonwealth and
already brought positive national attention to Eastern. But most of
all I'm excited that this innovative venture allows the University
to achieve and advance its core mission while becoming an even
better steward of the public trust and hard-earned taxpayer
dollars." According to James Street, Eastern's associate vice
president of Capital Planning and Facilities Management, the
guaranteed energy savings performance project focuses on upgrades
and retrofits to energy-intensive building systems across the
campus including heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems,
lighting and other systems that consume water and fossil-fuel based
energy resources like electricity and natural gas. "Eastern's
utility bill is approximately $6.4 million annually," says Street.
"With Siemens help we will be saving nearly $8,000 a day in energy
expenses and when you add that up, we're going to be cutting our
on-campus utility consumption roughly in two." Siemens contract
guarantees EKU will save 24,665,190 kWh of electricity, 89,329 mcf
of natural gas, 1,729 tons of coal, 102,585 ccf of water and
138,584 ccf of sewer. The project's impact on the environment will
be as equally dramatic. According to Siemens over the 13-year
period of the contract, Eastern's energy savings will be comparable
to removing 6,229 cars from the road, growing 227 acres of forest
or not using some 79,000 barrels of oil. Similarly, over the
contract's duration Eastern will have reduced overall greenhouse
gas emissions (CO2, NOx and SO2) by nearly 76 million pounds. As a
leading provider of energy and environmental solutions, building
controls, fire safety and security systems solutions, Siemens
Building Technologies, Inc., makes buildings comfortable, safe,
secure and less costly to operate. With U.S. headquarters in
Buffalo Grove, Ill., Siemens Building Technologies employs 7,400
people and provides a full range of services and solutions from
more than 100 locations coast-to-coast. Worldwide, the company has
28,000 employees and operates from more than 500 locations in 51
countries. For more information on Siemens Building Technologies,
visit: http://www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens Building
Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: Steven E. Kuehn of Siemens Building
Technologies, +1-847-941-6047, Web Site:
http://www.sbt.siemens.com/
http://www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies Company News
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