Due to rising energy rates,
Being a public, state-funded campus, there are different funds used to pay for each building's energy usage. Basically, the buildings that use the energy pay for the energy. The portion of energy used by the academic buildings is paid for by the state and the energy used by the hospital is paid for by hospital funds. In the same way, the amount of energy used by dormitories is covered by dormitory funds. The campus has a sophisticated metering system that alerts the Energy Management Department as to how much each building is using for most commodities. The problem is that, even though the campus receives state support, it is not a tremendous amount. The campus energy needs are funded locally by hospital funds, student tuition, and money brought in by Dr. Kenny.
During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, SBU's energy bill for the entire campus was close to $47 million. According to Amy Provenzano, Executive Director of Campus Operations and Management, the energy costs have not increased due to the addition of campus facilities in recent years. "What we're very proud of is that our energy consumption is close to being stable: it is not going up. What we're finding is that the cost of the energy has dramatically increased over the last few years, upwards of 30% in rate increases."
These energy audits are not conducted annually, but Sempra Energy Services was hired to complete the audit due to special circumstances. It was conducted for the state buildings, the hospital, and the residence halls. Even though all three were audited, the list of approved projects only addressed the academic buildings and the hospital. When the energy company came in, they looked at anything from mechanical systems, which would be air-conditioning, heating systems, water systems, and building envelopes, which included the window and roof structures. The auditors looked at each of the buildings as a whole and presented their list of recommended changes. Approximately eight years ago, the campus had gone through a program called the NYPA-HELP (New York Power Authority- High Efficiency Lighting Program), which went through and changed all the lights on campus to be more energy efficient. As a result, the most recent energy audit did not have to deal with the campus lighting system.
Once the audit was completed, the energy company identifies Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) that can be taken. Once the Energy Management Department receives this list, they must determine which projects they would like to move forward with, after reviewing the cost to implement each of them as well as the payback for the campus.
Sempra began the energy auditing process for SUNY Stony Brook in 2000 and it took almost a year to look at each of the buildings and to develop specific projects. It took an additional year for the department to decide which of the recommended projects to proceed with. Finally, it took about two and a half years to do the actual construction of all the ECMs in the first phase and this was completed in May of this year.
The university has been saving about $300,000 each month since the energy saving methods have been put into place. The changes in campus efficiency will occur in phases. The mechanical and water systems have been retrofitted and changed so they use more efficient motors. Also, timers have been set to operate controls only when buildings are occupied. Now, Peter Krumdieck, the Campus Energy Manager, is beginning to make the campus community aware, to save additional energy.
"What I'm trying to do is get students to turn off their computers when they leave their dorm rooms, shut the lights - more along those lines. There will be a campus-wide initiative when my campus comes alive, which is hopefully in a couple of weeks." Even though students may not see a reduction in their tuition, anything students can do will certainly be a step in the right direction. The Energy Department can only regulate how much energy is used and what the campus gains from efficient usage. This is only half the picture because even though campus consumption has been stable, overall expenditure has increased. There is only so much that the department can do alone, which is why they are trying to reach out to the students.
As Mr. Krumdieck explains, his mantra of late is "it all adds up." Students should make more of an effort to turn off their lights and computers before they leave their dorm rooms. If one student starts to do it and get his or her friends to follow suit, the energy saved will continue to add up. Anything the campus saves on utility bills goes back into the campus to use for the improvement or introduction of other facilities.
Both Amy Provenzano and Peter Krumdieck, along with the rest of the Energy Management Department, would like students to be sensitive to the idea that the campus must pay utility bills. They are working hard to provide the campus with facilities that students need for a good learning environment. Any help from students would be greatly appreciated: if you see a leaking faucet, streetlights on during the day or broken lights during the night, you can report it on Fixit (ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/fixit). The more information that the department receives, the better it is. Anything students can do to help will be a positive addition to the campus effort.
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