Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Industry: Higher Education
Products Used: Energy Management & Controls, Chillers, Air Handling Solutions,
Services Used: Energy Analysis & Monitoring, Energy Efficiency Contracting, Upgrading,
Topic: Sustainability, Efficiency, Cost-Saving, Optimal Comfort,

Challenge
As Central Piedmont Community College continued to increase its enrollment and expand its campuses, the school sought to upgrade its infrastructure to help ensure an optimal learning environment for students. Challenged by budget constraints, the college also wished to reduce energy and operational costs to improve building performance, while implementing conservation measures in alignment with its sustainability goals.
Solution
Responding to CPCC’s request for proposal (RFP), Trane was selected
through a competitive bidding process to work with the college on the
upgrade project. With an excellent knowledge base of all CPCC
campuses, and as well the needs of the college’s critical facilities,
Trane had become a trusted advisor for the institution’s existing
building and new construction guidance.
Leveraging future energy savings
CPCC entered into Phase I of a Performance Agreement for
Comfort from Trane (PACT) focused on improvements to their Central
Campus. The PACT allowed the community college to leverage future
energy savings to finance infrastructure upgrades, without applying
upfront capital. The guaranteed energy savings contract provided a
landscape for Trane to work closely with CPCC’s Facilities Services to
develop strategic energy-saving building improvements. Trane conducted
feasibility studies and proposed energy conservation measures (ECMs)
strategically aligned with the college’s critical facility needs,
energy savings objectives and sustainability goals.
ECMs completed on CPCC’s Central Campus as part of Phase I of the Trane performance contract resulted in more than $380,000 in energy savings in the first year. Based on this initial success, the community college entered into a second performance contract with Trane, covering thirty buildings on six CPCC campuses.
Enhancing efficiency of critical missions
An important aspect of Phase II of the performance contract was
the upgrading of the community college’s data center to improve and
protect the critical missions of the school. The school’s existing
servers were replaced with high-efficiency data servers. The upgrades
provide for more effective IT service, while reducing operational
costs.
Reducing energy costs and water consumption
Phase II of the project also included retrofitting more than
18,000 lighting fixtures across six school campuses with more
efficient lighting. Occupancy sensors were added in some areas to turn
light fixtures off in unoccupied spaces.
Traditional
water conservation measures were duplicated across the CPCC locations
for domestic water savings. The improvements included retrofitting
existing fixtures with low flow devices, water saving measures for ice
makers and cooling tower net metering to reduce sewer costs.
Integrating controls
A Trane Tracer Summit™ building automation system (BAS) was
integrated with existing controls to deliver significant
standardization of existing building controls and sequences to enable
more effective comfort and energy management. The BAS provides the
college with access to all control systems via an internet web
interface to manage climate, lighting and energy consumption. Facility
managers use the BAS for scheduling and to respond to alarms, view
reports, implement custom programming and perform other daily tasks.
Results
Phase I measurement and verification (M&V) results show that upgrades implemented on Central Piedmont Community College’s Central Campus have resulted in energy savings of more than $799,500 in the first two years of the Trane performance contract, exceeding the savings guarantee by 11 percent in year one and 19 percent in year two. CPCC continues to aggressively decrease energy intensity per campus square foot, and reduce their carbon footprint.
“What I find exciting about the project is that as part of Trane’s
due diligence, they looked at every piece of equipment, every input
and every output,” said Pamela Metcalf, Director of Energy and
Sustainability, CPCC. “The project provided us with 3.5 million sq ft
of fully re-commissioned campus buildings.”
“Everybody at
Trane was great to work with,” Metcalf added. “We had transparency,
with meetings every other week. Everyone was very professional, very
responsive. Plus, we get ongoing training every year to continue to improve.”