Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/284031
Simpson says that the system will reduce annual energy costs by $237,000, maintenance costs by $154,000, and CO 2 emissions by 9,883 metric tons. The overall payback period is 6.5 years. Meanwhile, Mississippi State University (MSU) is putting its own signature on a large-scale project that they expressly limited to indoor lighting upgrades, 80 percent LED. "We wanted to cherry pick, designing the requests for proposals specifically to attract companies with expertise in lighting, au- diting, design, and retrofitting capabilities," Interim Associate Director of Utilities J.D. Hardy explains. "Each company who wanted to participate was given half a million square feet to au- dit and on which to produce detailed proposals. That way the proposer did a lot of the footwork," Hardy says. He used MSU staff, along with consulting engineers, to evaluate proposals. "It's important to recognize when to use in-house expertise and when to add outside expertise and labor as well to evaluate companies and filter through what the best technology and fit would be," he says. As for the retrofitting process itself, Hardy says, "Most of the time, with large-scale projects of this kind, all users/occupiers are moved out and the building is handed over to the contac- tor." But this time, no one is being displaced. "Although lighting change is very invasive, we are doing it without interrupting any schedules," Hardy says. "We work around occupied times and do night work. We work with coordinators in the buildings and in the administration, daily updating the usage schedules of individual spaces." Nor were customer preferences lost in the process. For example, the library contained certain areas with a museum- like look that the staff there wanted to retain. Working with an energy efficiency firm, Hardy found that advances in the LED market had made important variations possible; therefore he was able to have LEDs rebuilt to go into existing fixtures and to emit a more traditional color. SOLAR SAVINGS Solar power can be a very good deal for facilities, sometimes with no capital outlay. For example, CSU San Bernardino leases five acres of spare ground to a third party, who installed—and who maintain—their own solar panels under a power purchase 18 | march/april 2014 | Facilities Manager J.D. Hardy, energy and mechanical engineer with Mississippi State University, stands in the Central Chiller Plant, which currently is being upgraded to include more than 1,000 tons of ice storage capacity to help the university save on the high cost of electrical demand while increasing its ability to supply campus cooling. PHOTO CREDIT: MEGAN BEAN/MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY