Spring Break
Budget Bust Part 4: Little steps, big energy savings
Tyler Will
Issue date: 10/24/08 Section: News
10/24/08 - Though the University of Rhode Island entered in a contract to save nine million kilowatt-hours of electricity and millions of dollars, small changes in student behavior could further reduce those costs.
Shutting off the lights in one's dormitory, taking a shorter shower and turning off a laptop would reduce the university's consumption of energy and energy expenditures. Associate Director of Housing and Residential Life Jeffrey Plouffe said those reduced expenditures would be passed to students either in the form of a fee reduction or funds for renovation projects, such as painting or new furniture.
"It's good for the planet, it's good for our budget and it's good for your pocket book," Plouffe said, adding that energy in the residential buildings costs about $9.5 million a year, or 27 percent of HRL's annual budget.
In order to find new ideas for cutting energy costs, URI entered in a contract with an energy audit company called NORESCO, which on performs energy audits buildings for other companies, develops plans to save energy and guarantees a certain amount of energy savings.
Utilities Engineer David Lamb said the contract involves six projects at the Kingston, Narragansett Bay and Providence campuses. The project, which costs about $18 million, was funded through a type of public loan called certificates of participation, which act similarly to bonds. The certificates will be paid back with the money saved from the measures NORESCO enacts, Lamb said.
"We've done evaluations, and you do the projects that make sense," he said.
Plouffe said if the guarantee is not met, NORESCO will send the organization a check for the difference.
"There was damn good incentive for them [to deliver the terms of the contract]," Plouffe said.
The projected savings are not actually in cash value, but in specific units such as gallons of oil or kilowatt-hours, Lamb said. This is because the price of those units can fluctuate; so estimating a cash value varies from season to season, whereas specific unit figures are not as volatile, Lamb said.
Shutting off the lights in one's dormitory, taking a shorter shower and turning off a laptop would reduce the university's consumption of energy and energy expenditures. Associate Director of Housing and Residential Life Jeffrey Plouffe said those reduced expenditures would be passed to students either in the form of a fee reduction or funds for renovation projects, such as painting or new furniture.
"It's good for the planet, it's good for our budget and it's good for your pocket book," Plouffe said, adding that energy in the residential buildings costs about $9.5 million a year, or 27 percent of HRL's annual budget.
In order to find new ideas for cutting energy costs, URI entered in a contract with an energy audit company called NORESCO, which on performs energy audits buildings for other companies, develops plans to save energy and guarantees a certain amount of energy savings.
Utilities Engineer David Lamb said the contract involves six projects at the Kingston, Narragansett Bay and Providence campuses. The project, which costs about $18 million, was funded through a type of public loan called certificates of participation, which act similarly to bonds. The certificates will be paid back with the money saved from the measures NORESCO enacts, Lamb said.
"We've done evaluations, and you do the projects that make sense," he said.
Plouffe said if the guarantee is not met, NORESCO will send the organization a check for the difference.
"There was damn good incentive for them [to deliver the terms of the contract]," Plouffe said.
The projected savings are not actually in cash value, but in specific units such as gallons of oil or kilowatt-hours, Lamb said. This is because the price of those units can fluctuate; so estimating a cash value varies from season to season, whereas specific unit figures are not as volatile, Lamb said.
