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Higher Education

Energy and sustainability solutions that set the curve

Colleges and universities are faced with the important task of educating our nation's young adults, preparing them for challenging careers, and providing them with a safe and healthy learning environment. Plagued by constrained budgets and deferred maintenance challenges, higher education institutions often have to make tough choices between investments in educational programs and investments that reduce energy and operating costs.

There is also a surge in ‘greening’ campuses and curricula to attract students and to prepare them for green collar jobs of the future. This increased attention to carbon footprint reduction and climate change is also reflected in the number of higher education institutions that are signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC).

Big Savings on Campus

Since 1984, NORESCO has delivered infrastructure upgrades and operational efficiency at colleges and universities across the nation. We offer a range of turnkey solutions from energy efficiency retrofits and modernization to renewable energy to energy infrastructure, all designed to address deferred maintenance issues, reduce operating costs and promote environmental stewardship. For new construction or major renovation projects, we provide sustainable design and LEED® consulting services to improve school design, create a healthy, energy-efficient environment and reduce waste. Our energy procurement services help ensure savings measures are successful in the long-term. We also offer advisory services to help create a campus-wide energy and sustainability action plan.

Performance contracting is a practical and extremely effective way to finance and install proven energy-efficient technologies and upgrade energy infrastructure. A performance contract with NORESCO brings you the experience, financial strength and partnership to modernize facilities and improve the learning environment with no upfront capital. Colleges and universities can also take advantage of our turnkey asset management and monetization solutions to enjoy worry-free plant operations.

NORESCO has extensive experience with large, complex environments such as a campus and is able to fast track schedules and develop strict protocols for work in occupied areas. Our projects have involved renovations of campus dining facilities, libraries, laboratories and dorms while in full operation.

Energy Curriculum Enhancement

No environment is more conducive to the implementation of an effective outreach program than a college campus. It provides an audience receptive to resource conservation and a variety of existing vehicles for the dissemination of information. Our custom Energy Conservation Through Behavior Change® program trains students and staff to change energy-wasting behaviors to conserving behaviors by targeting the underlying motivational factors driving energy consumption. The program works with existing sustainability and recycling initiatives on campus.

As part of our commitment to promoting green jobs, NORESCO also sponsors student interns to assist in the development and implementation of the guaranteed energy savings project that helps prepare them for the ‘green’ jobs of the future.

LEED® is a registered trademark owned by the U.S. Green Building Council.

NORESCO was a valued partner to NC A&T as we negotiated our internal, UNC system, and State processes governing performance contracting in North Carolina; discovered unforeseen complications in our facilities that we worked together resolving; and went through a challenging financing process. Our partnership with NORESCO has turned me from a skeptic to believer in performance contracting. We look forward to continuing our partnership with NORESCO.

Andrew Perkins, Jr.
Asst. Vice Chancellor, Office of Facilities
North Carolina A&T State University