UH-Hilo saves
big bucks on energy
HILO >> The University of Hawaii at Hilo is saving more than half a million dollars per year under the first energy cost savings program of its kind done by the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.
By 2001, five years into a 10-year contract, the program had saved the school an average of $540,000 per year, says an article in the April issue of Business Officer magazine of the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
John Whittaker, UH-Hilo vice chancellor for administrative affairs, called the magazine the Wall Street Journal of his profession. The fact that the news has been published nationwide is a "tremendous coup," he said.
The savings are exceeding the $450,000 per year promised by Johnson Controls Inc., of Milwaukee, in its contract, DBEDT energy specialist Elizabeth Raman wrote in the article.
State agencies have a hard time upgrading lighting and air-conditioning facilities because they lack money, Raman wrote.
Johnson solved the problem by investing $2.9 million of its own money at 50 UH-Hilo buildings to start the program, Raman wrote.
"Saving millions without spending a dime," the title of the article boasts.
But the university does have to pay Johnson back, plus pay ongoing costs. And it has to verify that it really is saving money.
How those numbers are calculated remains the least understood part of such programs, Raman wrote.
In 1996, the year the UH-Hilo program began, the federal and several state governments as well as private industry adopted a "protocol" to guide contracts through the calculations.
When the contract with Johnson ends in 2006, total savings are expected to be $6 million, Raman wrote. And although the contract stops then, the savings continue after that.