With budgets shrinking and costs rising, the campus faces a challenge meeting its utility bills unless lower-cost energy is found and workers help reduce the university's energy appetite.
"The problem originated in the energy crisis three summers ago, and has been worsened by the recent state budget crisis," said Joseph Stagner, director of the campus utilities program in the operations and maintenance department.
Stagner explained that the high cost of energy in the wake of the energy crisis, coupled with the inability of state funding to keep pace with utility costs, including those associated with new campus buildings, has pushed the utility budget into an "extreme deficit."
The campus's utility budget is $19.5 million for the current fiscal year, he said, yet projections call for a final bill of about $24.1 million. The difference is a structural budget deficit of $4.6 million.
Stagner said the deficit started in 2000-2001 when the average price of natural gas tripled and electricity more than doubled. Future campus gas and electricity costs will likely remain about double their pre-crisis levels, he said.
And while the campus struggles to fund higher energy costs for its existing space, the building space planned or under construction will require even more energy.
"We have many new buildings coming online, but the state is not sending us the funds to pay for the utilities for them, including energy costs," said Stagner, adding that the state's existing funding formula is based on pre-crisis energy costs.
The good news is that the campus is obtaining lower-priced federal hydropower from the Western Area Power Administration. It started doing so several years ago, and now this source supplies about 40 percent of the campus's annual electricity demand. Stagner estimates that WAPA has saved the campus $6 million during the past 16 months.
"Western Area Power Administration energy has always been much cheaper and is currently averaging about 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour compared to PG&E at about 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour," Stagner said.
The campus's contract with PG&E expires in June, thus expanding the university's energy options.
"Starting next year we will have the option to buy all our power from either the Western Area Power Administration or PG&E, but not a mix of the two," Stagner said.
"Given Western Area's current costs and track record, we believe they best meet the campus's energy needs for the foreseeable future."
The campus has commissioned five separate analyses in recent years to determine how to most efficiently buy utilities through the next five years. The most cost-effective approach is to purchase energy on the wholesale open market through WAPA.
In other areas, Stagner said the campus has minimized its energy costs with the construction of a thermal energy storage plant that uses off-peak electricity to make chilled water for campus cooling. This has saved $2 million per year and has helped the campus obtain more than $5 million in grants to fund energy efficiency improvements.
Another project in the planning phase could save the campus $3 million per year by replacing old steam-fired chillers at the central heating plant with more efficient electrical units.
Spotlighting the peak-usage issue
Stagner said the key problem is not only the total power used by the campus, but when that power is used, especially if it happens during peak usage times. The highest energy costs -- peak power -- occur between noon and 6 p.m. from May through October, when air conditioners kick on.
"We need to shift more energy intensive activities to non-peak hours," said Stagner, noting that his office is working with the campus's largest energy users to encourage them to shift some of their experiments and processes to off-peak hours.
Also, the campus is exploring the use of portable power plants during peak summer months, he added.
The human factor
Employees can help with the energy crunch by conserving energy when possible, Stagner said. Toward this goal, his office will soon be releasing information on what employees can do to help bridge the energy gap.
"The university is faced with a serious energy budget challenge, one that requires everyone's attention and cooperation," Stagner said. "Greater savings can be realized by practicing and promoting energy consciousness as a way of life at the university."
He said such conservation efforts the past couple of years have helped the campus meet its energy needs and keep costs down. Beyond shifting around peak hour usage, progress has been made to reduce office lights and office equipment usage, among other measures.
The campus also has reduced its outside lighting where it does not compromise safety. And it has projected that changing set point temperatures a mere 2 degrees -- 78 degrees for summer and 66 degrees for winter -- saves up to $500,000.
For more information on how to conserve energy, call Charles Madison in the energy conservation office at (530) 754-5591.