QUEENS—The New York
Power Authority (NYPA) today announced the launch of a $750,000 project to
install a campus-wide energy management system at Queens College of the City
University of New York (CUNY) that will allow for real-time Internet monitoring
and greater control of the college’s energy use.
The project supports
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s ambitious Build Smart NY initiative to increase
energy efficiency in state buildings by 20 percent in seven years by
strategically accelerating priority improvements in energy performance. The
initiative will save millions of dollars for taxpayers and create thousands of
jobs while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to
state facilities, other governmental entities such as CUNY are participating in
Build Smart NY.
The work, which involves
the installation of new meters and data collection devices in 25 buildings on
the 77-acre Flushing campus, is expected to save the college approximately
$92,000 per year in energy costs. The project is part of a larger effort
to convert the entire CUNY system to real time monitoring of energy use in an
effort to lower energy costs, save taxpayer money, create jobs in green
industries and improve air quality.
“The New York Power
Authority has a long history of collaborating on energy efficiency measures
with CUNY and these real-time, energy monitoring systems are just the latest
example of innovative energy saving projects we have partnered on,” said Paul
Belnick, NYPA vice president, Energy Efficiency. “Queens College will be
able to use the data provided by this system to identify energy saving
opportunities and make more informed decisions on its energy use, resulting in
greater efficiencies and lower costs.”
The Power Authority’s
Energy Efficiency group planned and financed the Queens College project and is
working with RCM Technologies and Queens-based RDS Industries on the project’s
implementation. The project is part of a larger effort by CUNY and the Power
Authority to introduce Internet energy monitoring to all of CUNY’s four-year
colleges during the next year. With the new system, energy use monitoring
will be available campus-wide through smartphone apps. The broad
availability of this data is also anticipated to assist CUNY in its participation
in NYPA’s Peak Load Management program, which shares savings with customers who
are able to reduce energy demand on certain hot summer days when the electric
grid is strained.
NYPA recovers its
financing costs for energy efficiency projects by sharing in the resulting
electric bill savings with its customers, like Queens College. Once the
costs are fully recovered over several years’ time, the customer keeps all of
the savings, freeing up money for their essential services.
During the last two
decades, NYPA has teamed with CUNY on energy efficiency and clean energy
projects at more than 130 facilities, for annual savings of more than $14
million and the lowering of greenhouse gas emissions by 87,000 tons a year.
NYPA has been designated
as the lead entity via an executive order by Governor Cuomo to form a central
management and implementation plan to carry out his Build Smart NY plan. NYPA
is committed to providing $450 million in low-cost financing for Build Smart NY
and an additional $350 million for other energy efficiency programs benefiting
county and local governments.
Governor Cuomo’s Build
Smart NY Initiative will support his call for 20 percent energy efficiency in
seven years by using state building energy data to prioritize projects that
will deliver the greatest energy savings per dollar spent. The largest and most
inefficient buildings will be addressed first and undergo comprehensive
whole-building improvements. Build Smart NY will accelerate projects that
produce the greatest savings and coordinate all spending. The program will also
ensure that cost-effective improvements for energy savings are considered in
all the state’s capital project planning.
In addition to its
energy savings goals, Build Smart NY supports Governor Cuomo’s larger NY Works
program and economic development agenda, which coordinates state funding to
accelerate projects that will create jobs and improve the state’s
infrastructure. NY Works is designed to expedite select projects with maximum economic
impact, allowing them to begin as soon as possible and reduce project costs by
hundreds of millions of dollars.
A Build Smart NY web
platform was launched that posts progress reports, case studies, energy
savings, project costs, and other information to the public, providing greater
accountability and transparency on government spending and performance. For
more information on this initiative, visit www.buildsmart.ny.gov.
