When the Texas Legislature Passed House Bill 3693 it set certain guidelines regarding energy efficiency programs and incentives as well as other energy performance measures. Part of the Bill’s guidelines requires schools to establish a goal to reduce the school district’s annual consumption of Texas Electricity. In response, Texas State University set a goal of 2.5% electricity consumption for FY11.

However, during the first quarter of FY11, the campus experienced a 6.5% increase in Texas Electric consumption as compared to the same period last year. This is attributed to the increase of more than 1600 students enrolled as well as warmer months during the start of the fiscal year. As a result, the campus was utilizing labs and classrooms for longer periods resulting in an increase in Electricity consumption.

This increase in demand and Texas State University’s commitment to adhere to their electricity consumption goals prompted the campus to initiate energy savings programs. With their power to choose energy options, the campus has established a comprehensive energy savings program that other campuses and established could learn from.

Current Energy Reduction Plans

The following describes some of the current energy reduction plans being implemented by Texas State University in order to hit their Texas electricity consumption goals for FY11.

• Energy Audits – a minimum of 2 detailed energy audits per month is set by the university starting with areas that are the largest consumers of electricity such as building with air handlers that are in operation for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Lighting Retrofits – incandescent bulbs will be eliminated and replaced with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps in all facilities. Old style fluorescent lamps will also be replaced with more efficient T-8 fluorescent bulbs. At the same time, old magnetic ballasts will be replaced with more efficient electronic ballasts for less Texas electricity consumption.

• VFDs on Chilled Water Systems – Variable Frequency Drives or VFDs are installed on all chilled water pump facilities to have more precise and more energy efficient control of the pump motors used in the chilled water systems. This precise control system will let only the required cooling needed in the building spaces to maintain human comfort levels within the facilities.

• Extended Heating Load Downtime – To increase energy savings during winter breaks, Housing Services set building programmed controls to have extended heating load downtimes.

• Building Re-commissioning – The campus completed in-house re-commissioning of their Math and Science buildings and will realize payback in less than a year.

• Replacement of Faulty Air Dampers – Faulty air dampers in a facility leads to cooling losses which will eventually be translated into higher electricity consumption. To prevent this, faulty air dampers such as those encountered at the Law School were replaced with new and more efficient units.

• Dedicated Cooling Pump for Biology Building – A dedicated cooling pump is planned for use in the Biology building’s growth chambers. A dedicated pump in these chambers will allow the larger building cooling pumps to cycle off without affected the conditions in these growth chambers. In this way, greater energy savings can be realized.

Future Energy Reduction Plans

Aside from the energy savings initiatives already implement by the Texas State University, other energy savings projects are planned to achieve even greater reduction in the consumption of Texas Electricity. This includes the use of LED lighting retrofits, smaller ballasts, upgrades on HVAC controls, rolling off-cycles for chillers, and air-handler upgrades. Engineering analysis is currently ongoing to check on the feasibility of these additional projects to determine those with the biggest impact, least funding requirements and favorable payback periods.

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