Facts: The University began breaking ground on the new Cates Avenue steam plant Monday. Despite impending budget cuts, the University has averted the cost by utilizing an energy savings contract, which will put the money saved by increasing the efficiency of steam plants to paying for the loan to rebuild the plants.
Opinion: While budget cuts are on our minds, it is nice to hear the University administration’s forward thinking has resulted in a successful plan to reduce cost, increase our energy efficiency and decrease our carbon foot print.
In October, the Sustainable Endowments Institute released Green Report Cards for universities across the country and exposed the truth about N.C. State’s “going green” initiatives. It revealed a disappointing B+, tying us with Duke University and putting us behind our A- Carolina blue rivals down the road. An obtrusive C stood out next to the Energy breakdown, signaling we, even as a strong engineering school, did not have a green energy infrastructure in place.
University officials must have been anticipating this letdown, because even in 2009, they were developing plans to improve the steam plants on campus to make them more energy efficient. The buildings are set to be LEED Silver Certified. This will not only help us gain the lead in sustainability, but we will also offset some future cost of our energy. We thank University officials for keeping our impact on the environment in mind, and thinking for the future in terms of sustainability.
The steam demand on campus is currently 200,000 lbs/hr, and the plants’ collective capacity is 300,000 lbs/hr, but by 2030 the demand is anticipated to be 320,000 lbs/hr. This isn’t even taking into account that two of the four boilers on campus are in poor condition and the average age of all of them is 45. By renovating the system, University officials are looking to increase the efficiency of the plants by 72.6 percent and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by at least 15 percent. We can look forward to a higher grade already.
Of course, we are looking closely at how academics will be affected by budget cuts, but University officials are looking to use this investment to give students an opportunity to get first-hand experience in dealing with energy and efficiency. The investment will also create student jobs. This is a great example of how the University can use existing technology and resources to benefit students.
Although $61 million seems like a large amount of money in the midst of budget cuts, new state laws have allowed University officials to capitalize on the opportunity to change energy. It is an unconventional, yet convenient time to improve the reliability, efficiency and conservation of energy at N.C. State. Even though they have proven their ability to be forward-thinking, University officials still need to keep looking for ways to cut energy costs and increase N.C. State’s ability to be sustainable.
