The University of Northern Iowa has completed a large amount of energy projects. Whether they be solely for the reason to reduce our energy consumption, or a large construction project that we focus on significantly lowering our energy usage.
With every large project on campus, whether it be a new building or a renovation, energy usage is a major contributing factor in decision making. This would include, but not limited to, the heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, lighting, control systems and plumbing.
A recent example of this would be the Schindler Education Center Renovation. This project is saving over $240,000/ year in electrical and steam costs. This is over 55% in savings compared to pre-renovation costs.
The University also focuses on projects that are solely energy based. In recent years, we have completed several lighting projects that not only save a significant amount of energy, it really makes the spaces brighter.
This is one example at Industrial Technology Center. We replaced the light fixtures in the building (approximately 500 fixtures) along with occupancy sensors to help control the lighting. The connected power load was reduced by 65%. The following pictures are of the shop area in the building. A drastic change - which also improves safety in a space like this.
A large lighting project that was done campus wide was the replacement of the high pressure sodium light fixtures on our pedestrian pole lights. These have been changed out to LED light fixtures and in the process has reduced our input wattage by 70% with this replacement.
There are also several heating, ventilating and air conditioning projects that have been done also to conserve energy. Not only do these projects conserve energy, they allow for a much better control of the system. Which in tern delivers a better environment for the end user.