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Energy savings initiative enters next phase

Penn State Hershey's Energy Savings Project is a multiphase effort to reduce the overall energy use across the organization. Initiated during fiscal year 2009, phase 1 of the project was completed in early 2011 and phase 2 concluded in December 2012. Phase 3 is under development with completion expected by December 2013.

Penn State Hershey Facilities staff have focused on increasing the efficiency of the building systems on campus. Energy savings projects have increased efficiency, which has resulted in annual energy savings of both electric and natural gas. In addition to these reductions, Penn State Hershey also has reduced its carbon footprint by 11,015 metric tons of carbon dioxide. This amount of carbon reduction is equivalent to the annual electric use for the homes of approximately 4,300 people.  For comparison, the 2011 population of the adjacent borough of Hummelstown was approximately 4,500.

Additionally Penn State Hershey's annual carbon footprint reduction is equivalent to 1,235,000 gallons of gasoline, enough to provide the typical annual fuel for approximately 2,300 passenger vehicles.

Annual energy savings for phase 1 and 2 are approximately $1.5 million. After implementation, phase 3 will provide an additional $400,000 of annual savings. Projects in phase 3 consist of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning upgrades, heat recovery in lab areas, lighting upgrades, and boiler heat recovery at the Central Plant.

These annual energy savings have not been the only financial benefit of the program. The Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted Act 129 to provide Pennsylvania businesses, governments, and non-profits monetary incentives to increase energy efficiency efforts statewide. Act 129 incentives received to date have been more than $560,000, and the Medical Center has additional incentive applications under review, a process that involves third party engineers validating the claimed savings.

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