Renewable Energy Installations in WI

Monday, August 4, 2008

UW-Stout is No. 1 in energy efficiency in UW System

From a media release issued by the UW-Stout:

According to the “Energy Use in State-Owned Facilities” report released annually through Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, the University of Wisconsin-Stout is the most energy efficient campus of all 13 four-year campuses in the UW System. The energy consumption of all UW campuses is monitored through monthly utility bills and fuel consumption reports and converted to units of energy, or BTUs, per square foot, per year. This calculation makes campuses of different sizes comparable.

In the last released report, UW-Stout was 30 percent more efficient than the UW system average and 12 percent more efficient than the runner up, UW-River Falls. UW-Stout has been the leader in energy efficiency for more than the past decade.

These statistics may surprise some who are looking for headline grabbing energy projects. However, like the three R’s in waste minimization (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), a sustainable energy regime begins with using less.

There is something far from glamorous behind UW-Stout’s energy efficient status—an extraordinary commitment to maintenance and incremental energy reduction measures.

For instance, each year the university’s chiller condenser and evaporator tubes are cleaned and all exterior door weather stripping is checked annually and replaced if necessary. These measures, and much more, are basic maintenance standards for all institutions, but whether or not they are followed to a “T” depends on leadership and commitment by facilities management.

UW-Stout’s Director of Physical Plant Ted Hendzel attributes much of the energy conservation results to the maintenance workers responsible for fine tuning and operating the equipment and facilities.

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