CWU: Proactive, Efficient Facilities Management

December 17, 2003

ELLENSBURG, Wash.-- Typically, winter brings higher heating costs to homes, businesses and even universities. However, through planning and foresight, Central Washington University's natural gas consumption has been reduced by 19 percent and electricity use is down 14 percent during the past seven years.

The savings date back to a major campus expansion, which began eight years ago when CWU facilities officials deliberated on the question: Should tried-and-true operational practices be continued or should a new course be charted?

For many years, the campus size and student population had remained steady at two million square feet of academic buildings and 7,300 students. But growth was imminent with plans for a new Science Building and major renovation along with the facelift and expansion of Black Hall.

Additional renovations, including a new music building, and student union and recreation center, were also on the horizon, representing a 20 percent growth in conditioned space - designed to help accommodate a similar increase in the university's student body.

Funding from the state legislature, combined with university self-support money, generated sufficient capital for the planned renovations and additions.

Even so, since it had been 30 years since a new building had been built on campus, there were concerns that an out-of-date campus infrastructure, insufficient operating budgets, and traditional methods of facilities operations could become major roadblocks to effectively accommodating this growth.

It's now apparent that those concerns have been alleviated, in part through leveraging money from the state of Washington, based on guaranteed energy cost savings.

"We realized that this new source of funds would allow us to chart a new course," said Bill Vertrees, CWU director of facilities.

During the past seven years, CWU has implemented more than $20 million in energy savings-related projects, avoiding $6 million in capital construction projects and $4 million in energy, operations and maintenance costs, according to Vertrees.

"At current utility rates, energy conservation improvements are producing $1.5 million a year in avoided costs," he adds. "Our energy team takes great pride knowing we have avoided more than half of the cost impact that energy rate increases could have brought to Central."

The "performance team," consisting of Vertrees, facilities managers, State of Washington Energy Program and other service providers, touts several other accomplishments:

• Ninety-nine percent of the university's older-generation heating and cooling controls have been replaced with new systems;
• Expansion of the central heating and cooling plant has been avoided even though heated and cooled space on the Ellensburg campus has increased 10 percent;
• Seventy percent of leaking, direct-buried steam lines have been replaced, saving more than 15,000 gallons of water a day;
• Most of the central utilities infrastructure for electricity, steam, chilled water, irrigation and telecommunications has been renewed, paving the way for future campus expansion and even more efficient operation; and,
• Indoor air quality and comfort conditions have improved dramatically campuswide, through improved operating controls.

This year, CWU will also integrate all of its metering data into a single analysis and presentation tool, and establish a facilities task force to create and validate operating standards.

"Our ultimate goal is to engage the faculty, students, administration and the entire facilities management organization in performance operations," Vertrees points out. "I'm very pleased with our progress so far."