SUNY looks to save $500K on energy bills

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced a partnership between New York Power Authority and 10 State University of New York campuses to undertake $80 million worth of energy efficiency projects.

Through these projects, all 10 campuses, including Purchase College, will save an estimated total of $3.5 million per year on their energy bill and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 21,000 tons annually. Purchase College is projected to save more than $490,000 per year and reduce carbon emissions by about 2,000 tons annually.

The partnership supports Cuomo”™s Build Smart NY initiative, which he launched in December 2012. The program outlines strategies to help state agencies raise the total energy efficiency level of state buildings by 20 percent by 2020. This includes monitoring energy use in state buildings, executing master plans to reduce energy consumption and providing resources to implement the projects.

“Under Build Smart NY, we are ensuring that New York State government is reducing our impact on the environment and saving taxpayers money,” said Cuomo in a written statement. He added that the NYPA-SUNY partnership aims to undertake energy efficiency projects that create job opportunities in clean energy.

The SUNY campus system alone consumes about 40 percent of energy among New York”™s state-owned buildings, said Gil C. Quiniones, president and CEO of the New York Power Authority, a public benefit corporation and the largest state-owned power organization. He added that the partnership with SUNY allows NYPA to provide loans that help finance the project costs.

“NYPA provides low-cost financing,” Quiniones said. “We lend the schools money, and the projects produce energy and operational savings that give SUNY a net positive cash flow over the next 10 to 15 years.”

SUNY Purchase has invested more than $22 million in several projects last year. The school installed an $11 million replacement of a 40-year-old chiller with an ice-storage system to provide cooling and ventilation throughout campus buildings. The university also invested $10 million to replace a 40-year-old heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to keep the temperature stable at the school”™s Neuberger Museum of Art.

This year, Purchase plans to install a cooling tower to help dispense the heat transported into the cooling and ventilation system they newly purchased last year.

“The university system is by virtue a demonstrator of intellectual leadership,” said Purchase College president Thomas J. Schwarz. “The benefit is not just about dollars and cents. But it’s about climate benefit and human welfare.”