Upgrades deliver environmental benefits
February 26 , 2007
The sight of large cranes towering over LaGrange College buildings became almost commonplace over the last few months as a major upgrade to air conditioning and lighting systems took place on campus. College officials say the project guarantees energy, cost and environmental savings.
“Many of our facilities had aging, inefficient equipment,” said Bob Vitale, director of the College’s Campus Services unit. “And, quite frankly, our capital expenditures budget didn’t have the dollars needed up front to carry out a comprehensive overhaul.”
Working with the College’s Sustainability Council, planners found a solution to the puzzle. A partnership was forged with a firm that completes the work and finances it through money saved from guaranteed reduced utility expenditures.
The partner is Linc Mechanical, a company that specializes in what the industry labels “bundled energy solutions,” which combine traditional tasks, such as heating and air conditioning replacement, with other energy savings projects, including computerized management controls and lighting retrofits.
“The College has made no up-front investment in this work,” Vitale said. “Instead, the upgrades will be paid for through the energy savings. And if the savings totals don’t reach their targets, Linc will pay the difference per the guarantee in our contract.”
Current estimates are for the project to provide nearly $4 million in energy and related savings over a 15-year period.
Beyond those savings, and the benefits of better lighting and air quality, the effort’s other byproducts have even those outside the maintenance field excited.
“The environmental rewards of this project are enormous,” said Dr. Sarah Beth Mallory, chair of the Sustainability Task Force and Biology Department chair. “The energy saved will be the equivalent of removing 87 cars from the road, planting 178 acres of trees and saving 55,973 gallons of gasoline each year.
“It’s a win-win situation when you combine good fiscal management with better environmental stewardship,” she said.
Campus buildings most affected by the upgrades include Callaway Science Building, Hawkes Hall, Hudson Natatorium, Lamar Dodd Art Center, Mariotti Gymnasium, Pitts Residence Hall and Smith Hall.
While the upgrades were on the fast track in January, LaGrange College President Stuart Gulley that month joined with about 50 other institutional CEOs from across the country in becoming charter signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.
The commitment calls for each school to develop a plan and set a date for reaching campus-wide climate neutrality, a point at which an institution’s carbon-dioxide emissions are offset by the use of renewable sources of energy and the oxygen released from trees and other plants on campus. Colleges that agree to the pact have two years to catalog their carbon emissions and map out a plan for achieving climate neutrality.
In its ongoing efforts to “Focus the College” on environmental issues, the Sustainability Council has an array of spring events planned on campus and in the community: Pulitzer Prize winning scientist E.O. Wilson’s speech at the Friends of the Library Dinner, April 12; an art auction in the Hillside community sponsored by the Invisible Children student group, April 14; a presentation and discussion of “An Inconvenient Truth” featuring Jennifer Downs, Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, April 18; an Earth Day celebration on the patio with lunch and exhibits, April 19; “Focus the Nation” lecture by professor Todd Matthews, April 24; and a 30-hour famine sponsored by the Invisible Children student group, April 27 – 28.
“Focus the College” will lead to the fall 2007 campaign of “Focus the Community” and eventually to January 2008 “Focus the Nation” events.
