While adopting a campus-wide sustainability effort may require addressing many issues, including recycling, transportation, and construction planning, one major influencer of sustainability that can improve a campus’ environmental footprint, without increasing expenses or consuming capital, is energy utilization. There is a way to achieve the noble and lofty goal of becoming a sustainable campus by addressing the practical and sometimes mundane issue of energy and water usage.

Today’s facilities professionals pride themselves on keeping up to date on energy, environmental, and engineering innovations. They know that opportunities abound for system enhancements in the area of energy and water management, in addition to opportunities to expand the use of renewable and sustainable energy.

To cite a few examples, college and university facilities can achieve substantial environmental and financial benefits through investments as diverse as lighting modernization, upgraded air-handling systems, indoor air quality improvements, variable frequency drive (VFD) motor controls, meter and submeter monitoring systems, low-flow plumbing retrofits, high-efficiency chillers, solar, wind and other sustainable technologies.

Given free rein to invest in energy upgrades, well-informed campus facilities professionals would choose from a range of alternatives, all guaranteed to reduce maintenance, reduce harmful greenhouse gases, increase efficiency, and reduce operational costs over many years. A natural concern for leaders is whether they can afford to make those changes that they know would improve the quality of life on the campus as well as improve its carbon footprint.

Understandably, facilities managers find these investments technologically appealing. But they offer added benefits to colleges and universities. These measures also present opportunities for significant financial returns. According to the Energy Star® website, America’s colleges and universities were spending nearly $2 billion annually on energy as of 2004. Investments in energy-saving upgrades are today paying back faster than ever because of long-term escalations in the price of natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity nationwide.

Engineers are frequently focused on technology, but they need to diversify their way of thinking. Facilities personnel can err when they advocate for energy improvements by concentrating too heavily on technological benefits while underplaying the proposal's economic payback.

Communications Gaps Doom Good Proposals

Even amid rising energy costs, colleges and universities can miss opportunities for worthwhile energy enhancements because of a communications gap between senior administrators and engineering personnel. Facilities professionals recommending environmentally-positive energy projects risk rejection of their proposals if they fail to communicate effectively. They cannot get their point across if they do not speak the language spoken and understood by decision makers or address the full range of issues that a president considers when evaluating a proposal.

Communications gaps between leaders and the facilities team can condemn a solid energy recommendation to failure. Leaders and facilities personnel need to work together to fully capture the cost-benefit value of infrastructure expenditures.

Best Practices

Colleges and universities can maximize their potential for achieving cost-effective, sustainability-improving energy investments by adopting these best practices:

First, develop a complete cost-benefit analysis in support of the project. This analysis should not only include a determination of the payback period on the investment, but should also address other investment variables, as well as the funding source for the investment. This process is discussed further below.

Where applicable, describe how a proposed energy investment contributes to student, faculty and staff comfort. In addition to reducing utility costs, VFD controls, for instance, may enhance the learning environment by reducing temperature fluctuation and decreasing the frequency of air control breakdowns while also lessening environmental impacts and reducing service calls or complaints.

A good source of input can be independent resources such as the Energy Star® Partner program, whose experts provide guidance and data that will fortify a proposal. Once an institution's energy strategy wins Energy Star validation, future improvements stand a better chance of approval.

Finally, higher-education institutions can partner with a respected and reliable energy services company (ESCO) and leverage its expertise when developing an energy proposal. ESCOs understand the broad range of techniques and technologies for managing energy and water usage across the wide range of facilities found on a typical campus that can include residences, educational space, laboratories, offices, athletic facilities and central plants. In addition to designing and implementing a sound energy management strategy, these partners can help formulate the business case for valuable energy investments.

For example, colleges and universities around the country have teamed with ConEdison Solutions, a nationally recognized energy services company, to create successful energy-saving collaborations. These energy initiatives were successfully launched because campus leaders worked closely with the ESCO to develop a project proposal that accurately spelled out a strong rationale for energy upgrades including financial, environmental, aesthetic, and comfort benefits.

A Competitive Environment 

Sustainability initiatives don’t automatically get a free pass. They compete for dollars against countless other demands on resources, such as salaries and benefits, research, athletics, attraction and retention of faculty and personnel, insurance, various fixed costs, other capital improvements, marketing, administration and other expenses. Academic institutions function in a competitive marketplace, facing pressure to keep tuitions low, attract students, and win grants and foundation money. There is constant pressure to focus spending on projects that demonstrably contribute to the institution's success.

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