The consumption of electricity, natural gas, and water on the campus of Illinois State University in fiscal year 2013 has achieved record savings.
Since 2001, when the Office of Energy Management (OEM) began campuswide energy conservation initiatives, consumption of electricity and natural gas has been reduced by 30 percent, and the consumption of water on campus has been reduced by 40 percent. The campus achieved record low consumption levels in FY13 with a rate of 117,545 BTUs (electricity and natural gas) and 22.3 gallons of water consumed per square foot of building space.
The University’s energy savings in FY13 would provide 1,500 residential homes all of their energy for an entire year, and the water savings would fill 91 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Sheila Taylor, Business Manager for the Office of Energy Management, credits these savings to the implementation of the Energy Conservation Measures outlined in the University Energy Management and Infrastructure Improvement Plan for 2000-2020. These measures include projects as simple as lighting upgrades, low flow faucets and pipe insulation, to projects as complex as adding variable frequency speed drives (VFDs) on mechanical systems and building centralized district cooling and heating plants. Ms. Taylor is quick to note that the office has only begun the process of saving energy on this campus.
Additional energy conservation projects are scheduled for 2014, and the OEM anticipates continued success in making Illinois State an energy efficient campus.
Find out more about the University’s energy conservation program.
Kudos to those who have been diligently working on reducing energy consumption levels. This adds up to big $ over time…..and Illinois/ISU is in need of any savings it can make. Good job Office of Energy Management!