February 13, 2001

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/ e-mail loweryr@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG — While Washington state has been hit hard by rapidly rising energy costs, Central Washington University, because of good planning and favorable timing, has already met part of Gov. Gary Locke's directive for a 10 percent cut in energy consumption in state buildings, which he issued just last month.

According to CWU facilities management figures, Central is using 13 percent less electricity than it did in years past and 37,000 less therms of natural gas than the average over the previous six years.

What's even more noteworthy is CWU is using less electrical power now than it did before the new Science Building and renovated Black Hall came on line two years ago.

"With Black and Science, we took the opportunity to ask ourselves, 'How can we be energy smart?'," Bill Vertrees, CWU facilities management director, says.

The savings were realized through an energy services contract (ESCO) with the Washington State Department of General Administration, which allowed CWU to conduct more than $12 million of energy system upgrades throughout campus.

"State universities have never, to our knowledge, used ESCO contracts this large before," Vertrees points out. "Under this project, we were able to take all the various funding sources for our capital projects and leverage all the savings back into additional renovations. It allowed us to do 33 percent more work than we could have under the capital budget alone."

The project included new insulated steam lines, new boiler controls, a new chiller system with a 1 million gallon storage tank and new lighting projects in the CWU Library and Farrell Hall.

Gov. Locke has now actually directed state agencies to utilize ESCO projects, like the projects we have completed, Vertrees points out.

During the 2001-03 biennium, three major infrastructure projects are included for CWU, which Vertrees says will be rolled into another ESCO project. They are for improvements to steam and chilled water lines along Walnut Mall, and heating, ventilating and air conditioning upgrades to McConnell and Randall halls, which will make the campus even more energy efficient.

"As the cost of energy becomes more expensive, these projects will be even more in vogue," Vertrees says. "They'll be even more cost effective."

Because of its energy saving measures, CWU is seeking just a 33 percent increase in utility funding over the present biennium in its preliminary biennial budget request, which will all go toward commodity price increases, Vertrees says. By way of comparison, the five other state universities and college are seeking more than double the percent increase Central is seeking for utility funding during 2001-03.

Had the cost of energy commodities not skyrocketed, particularly natural gas which went from 36 cents per therm at the beginning of the current biennium to as much as 91 cents per therm recently, CWU could have realized savings of more than $750,000 per year.