By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
If you’ve ever felt the pain of paying an unanticipated monster electricity bill, just imagine being the guy who writes the checks at University of Hawaii at Hilo.
In fiscal year 2011-12, UHH budgeted $5.1 million for its utility costs, with the bulk of that figure being represented by power, said Marcia Sakai, Hilo’s vice chancellor for administrative affairs.
By spring 2012, the rate of monthly spending had increased such that the school was anticipating a shortfall of approximately $450,000, with anticipated total spending closer to $5.5 million.
“We under-estimated our all-utility budget need by about half-a-million dollars,” Sakai said.
Money to pay that half-million-dollar spike in the energy bills had to come from somewhere, explained UHH Chancellor Donald Straney as he spoke to members of the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce on July 25. Ultimately, it means that the university has to spend more of its operating budget on power and less on its other services, such as making faculty hires.
As a result of such jumps in electricity bills, Straney has appointed Sakai as the campus’ sustainability director and charged her with finding ways to cut utility costs and developing an energy management plan, making the university more efficient. He was very up front about his reasons for doing so.
“We’re not being green here. We’re not doing the right thing. This is pure economic necessity,” Straney said. “We’re just doing it to keep the lights on.”
In January, Straney asked Sakai to start by analyzing electricity spending at UHH. She and her staffers gathered electric bills for calendar years 2010 and 2011 for the school’s main meter on Nowelo Street, which provides the campus with about 84 percent of its power.
“Our analysis revealed that spending had risen by 25 percent, with 4 percent related to higher usage and the balance of 21 percent related to higher energy charges,” Sakai said.
One way the Hilo campus is working to become more energy efficient is by adding photovoltaics to their power grid. So far, UH-Hilo has completed work on solar panels that generate more than 150 kilowatts in electricity, she said, with another 500 kilowatts currently being installed. That second increment of photovoltaics will put the campus very near the limit of photovoltaic production within the guidelines established by Hawaii Electric Light Company.
“By early 2013, UH-Hilo’s PV (photovoltaic) capacity will be over 655 KW (kilowatts), producing an estimated 1,000,000 kWh/year, or about 8 percent of our annual usage,” Sakai wrote in an email.
Additionally, UH-Hilo’s Facilities Planning Office has worked to install building sub-meters that provide a way for individual buildings to measure their level of energy usage.
“Baseline data collected since July 2011 will help us monitor the impacts of any future energy management initiatives we undertake,” she said.
The university is seeking out additional energy conservation measures that have high benefit-to-cost ratios such as new lighting, air conditioning, building insulation, behavioral awareness, water and gas, as well as suggestions and ideas from faculty, staff and students, she said.
For the coming academic year, UHH’s all-utility budget is projected to be $6.2 million, with growth attributable solely to increases in electricity costs. As the year progresses, Sakai hopes to have the school’s energy master plan completed, as well as the institution of an energy performance contract aimed at reducing UHH’s energy consumption as the plan is implemented.
Energy performance contracts ensure that utility bill savings that result from the installation of new, energy efficient building systems pay for the costs of the building renewal projects. The contracts include language that obligates a contractor to pay the difference if at any time the savings fall short of guarantees.
“We expect the performance contract to both reduce and stabilize energy costs over the period of the contract, so that we can focus more of our attention and resources on improved programming for the success of our students,” she said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.