Guaranteed Energy Savings Projects Cutting Energy Use, Cost At State, Other Buildings

Lower energy costs in state buildings will generate $4.2 million in annual savings Department of General Services Secretary Curt Topper announced Thursday.

Using the Guaranteed Energy Savings Act, the department will invest $47 million in energy efficiency measures at state facilities now and pay for them over time with the annual savings from reduced utility consumption, rather than using commonwealth funds for upfront capital investments.

“This is a win-win for the state and taxpayers,” said Topper. “It allows the state to reduce our carbon footprint, lower our energy bills to fund new construction projects, and ultimately generate savings for the Commonwealth.”

The Commonwealth currently has eight GESA projects underway. Once complete, they will reduce energy consumption by an average of 22 percent.

Electricity use will be reduced as roughly 60,000 lighting fixtures are converted to LED lighting and 40 million gallons of water will be saved through water conservation measures.

Carbon dioxide emissions will be cut by approximately 17,100 tons, the equivalent of planting 40,200 trees or removing more than 3,320 cars from the road for a year.

One of the projects is at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, which hosted the announcement.

“Thaddeus Stevens’ success as a teaching institution that provides world-class hands-on technical instruction speaks for itself,” Topper said. “We are immensely proud to have found a way to incorporate that instruction directly into a cost-effective project that will benefit the students and campus for years to come.”

Thaddeus Stevens’ $2.6 million project will cover replacing and retrofitting interior and exterior fixtures for LED lighting campus-wide, the upgrade of the electrical distribution system and the installation of a sub-metering system that will aid in energy conservation and allocation of expenses.

A unique feature of the project is that Thaddeus Stevens students will get hands-on experience through their role in the project of installing the upgraded HVAC system in the campus’s Kreider Building.

The project will save approximately $122,000.00 annually.

In addition to the cost savings and new construction, DGS has made improvements to the GESA program, include modernizing the bidding and awarding process to be totally electronic from bid submission to document sharing to the signature process; prequalifying Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to make the bid process more efficient; and using a consultant and in-house DGS engineer to ensure that the project scopes and measures are effective and achievable.

Visit the Commonwealth’s GESA Program webpage for more information on the program.