Columbia University is saving more than $2.7 million each year because of NORESCO's conservation measures in 49 buildings at the Morningside and Health Sciences campuses.
The $9.5 million lighting retrofit and water conservation programs, resulting in the replace-ment of 65,000 lighting fixtures and 1,400 toilets, were completed with no capital investment
by the university and minimal disruption of classes.
Technical Overview
Project Type: NORESCO provided audits for 44 Morningside Campus buildings and five Health Sciences Campus buildings, identifying and analyzing potential energy and water conservation measures that had fast paybacks and could be implemented by the maintenance staff, and those that
required professional engineering and significant capital investment. With no upfront cost to the university, NORESCO designed the plan, purchased fixtures, managed the installation and provided the savings analysis for a lighting redesign and water conservation program that earned substantial rebates from the local utility and the municipal water company.
Facility Description: 44 buildings on Morningside Campus, about 6 million square feet 5 buildings on Health Sciences Campus, about 2 million square feet.
Contract Term: 10-year Energy Savings Performance Contract
5-year Water Conservation Performance Contract
Installation Period: Completed in Winter 1997
Financing: Non-Recourse Shared Savings. Financing arranged by NORESCO. Incentive programs offered
by the local utility and municipal water companies.
Project Summary
NORESCO's conservation measures included:
Campus-Wide Energy Audit
Auditing each building and providing recommendations for energy savings.
Lighting Upgrade
Designing a lighting plan to bring the lighting up to university standards, maximize energy conservation and qualify for incentives from the local utility; purchasing and installing more
than 65,000 new fixtures.
Lighting Pre-Testing
Facilitating quality control and ensuring user satisfaction by installing sample lighting fixtures
for pre-testing at each site prior to complete installation.
Water Conservation Audit
Conducting an extensive water conservation audit and identifying water saving measures.
Plumbing Fixture Replacements:
Implementing water conservation measures that included replacing 1,400 5-gallon-per-flush toilets with 1.6-gallon models and installing low-flow showerheads in selected locations.
Measurement and Verification
NORESCO guaranteed savings which were verified by measuring differences in energy and water usage between samples of old fixtures and new ones and extrapolating the energy-cost savings over the lives of the performance contracts.
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