UWG wins $500K grant to up energy efficiency
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The University of West Georgia will receive nearly $500,000 in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for conservation projects on the campus. The projects are expected to save about $130,000 in utilities annually.
But one of the proposed projects received only partial funding and the university may not be able to complete it.
Carlos Ruiz, a mechanical engineer at the university, put together the proposals that the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority awarded.
The university requested about $1.5 million to replace air-cooled air-conditioning units with much more efficient water-cooled units in Cobb and Row halls and the Coliseum.
“If you replace it with a water-cooled chiller it would be about 40 percent more efficient than what we have,” he said.
The university was required to split the project into three proposals by application requirements and was awarded two parts of the proposal, a total of $175,000. That is only enough to cover the cost of the labor, Ruiz said.
He doesn’t know if the university will be able to complete the project without the additional funding.
“None of the equipment was funded,” Ruiz said. “Right now, we’re in the process of determining whether we can fund the equipment.”
The university may also re-request the amount needed to fund the equipment.
Approximately $330,000 of the $500,000 total will be used to replace light fixtures and ballasts in the Humanities, Pafford and Boyd buildings on campus — and the lighting replacements were fully funded. In all, 900 light fixtures and 1,800 bulbs will be replaced with the money. The current fixtures are old and the bulbs they use are no longer made.
“It is important because, first of all, the light bulb technology that’s in the buildings is not being manufactured anymore,” Ruiz said. “We’re replacing it with a more efficient T-12 bulb that will save anywhere from 25 to 45 percent energy usage.”
The university estimated in the proposal the change would save $66,216 annually.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money will be coming through the University System of Georgia and it helped select the projects with the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, said Sandra Neuse, assistant vice chancellor for compliance and operations.
“In the funding, the Department of Energy established criteria of how they wanted the money spent,” she said. “Two of the main criteria were effectiveness, which is basically how much BTUs ... you’re saving per $1,000 investment and project payback.”
The project payback average for all projects submitted was 4.5 years. The project payback for UWG’s submitted proposals was 2.6 years for the air-conditioner replacements and five years for the lighting.
The universities and colleges came up with many more projects than could be funded with the available stimulus funding. The system will be distributing $27.3 million in stimulus funds for GEFA.
“We received actually well over $70 million in project submittals,” Neuse said. “We could have funded significantly more than we were ultimately able to.”
But one of the proposed projects received only partial funding and the university may not be able to complete it.
Carlos Ruiz, a mechanical engineer at the university, put together the proposals that the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority awarded.
The university requested about $1.5 million to replace air-cooled air-conditioning units with much more efficient water-cooled units in Cobb and Row halls and the Coliseum.
“If you replace it with a water-cooled chiller it would be about 40 percent more efficient than what we have,” he said.
The university was required to split the project into three proposals by application requirements and was awarded two parts of the proposal, a total of $175,000. That is only enough to cover the cost of the labor, Ruiz said.
He doesn’t know if the university will be able to complete the project without the additional funding.
“None of the equipment was funded,” Ruiz said. “Right now, we’re in the process of determining whether we can fund the equipment.”
The university may also re-request the amount needed to fund the equipment.
Approximately $330,000 of the $500,000 total will be used to replace light fixtures and ballasts in the Humanities, Pafford and Boyd buildings on campus — and the lighting replacements were fully funded. In all, 900 light fixtures and 1,800 bulbs will be replaced with the money. The current fixtures are old and the bulbs they use are no longer made.
“It is important because, first of all, the light bulb technology that’s in the buildings is not being manufactured anymore,” Ruiz said. “We’re replacing it with a more efficient T-12 bulb that will save anywhere from 25 to 45 percent energy usage.”
The university estimated in the proposal the change would save $66,216 annually.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money will be coming through the University System of Georgia and it helped select the projects with the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, said Sandra Neuse, assistant vice chancellor for compliance and operations.
“In the funding, the Department of Energy established criteria of how they wanted the money spent,” she said. “Two of the main criteria were effectiveness, which is basically how much BTUs ... you’re saving per $1,000 investment and project payback.”
The project payback average for all projects submitted was 4.5 years. The project payback for UWG’s submitted proposals was 2.6 years for the air-conditioner replacements and five years for the lighting.
The universities and colleges came up with many more projects than could be funded with the available stimulus funding. The system will be distributing $27.3 million in stimulus funds for GEFA.
“We received actually well over $70 million in project submittals,” Neuse said. “We could have funded significantly more than we were ultimately able to.”
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