By Andres Ibarra |Staff Writer|
The “Most-Open Valve Heating and Cooling System,” used throughout the campus, has earned the CSUSB Facility Services Department its fourth award.
The American Public Power Association (APPA) awarded the CSUSB Facility Services Department the Effective and Innovative Award for its method of energy conservation, according to the CSUSB Office of Public Affairs.
The APPA, a national organization for over 2,000 American community owned facilities with more than 7,000 members from around the world, annually awards those whose utilities meet their high standards.
The Effective and Innovative Award is given to those who enhance service delivery, cut costs, increase productivity, or otherwise benefit the school with a special method of energy efficiency.
The system chills water and distributes it throughout the campus’ air conditioning system to keep the campus cool while saving $340,000 in energy costs each year.
“Using this method to chill water, the cooling system reaches and maintains equilibrium more readily,” said Tony Simpson, Senior Director of Facility Services to Public Affairs.
“Therefore, controls are not overreacting, and temperature swings and drafts from compensating air handlers have been eliminated, and that maintains customer comfort levels throughout large daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations,” added Simpson.
Using automatic controls, the equipment is not overridden, which allows the equipment to last longer, requires less frequent maintenance and repairs, and thus reduces the need of manual labor and cost for repairs, Simpson told Public Affairs.
The chilled water is produced during off-peak business hours, so regular maintenance is done during normal work hours, which also helps reduce premium costs, said Simpson.
Many students reacted favorably to this achievement. Student Matt Deer said that it shows that the school keeps itself well-kept and maintained.
Some students liked how it was more beneficial to the environment.
“It helps the environment and it shows that they care,” said student Amanda O’Dell.
“Saving energy should be a top priority,” said student Jeremy Aclaro. “So it’s good to know where the school’s priorities are.”
This marks the fourth time the Facilities Services Department has received an award since it originally received the Effective and Innovative Practices Award in 2006, when the school implemented the Comprehensive Energy Services Master Enabling Agreement.
Other awards the campus has received are the Award in Excellence in 2007, which highlighted the facility’s overall dedication to their goals, and the Energy Project of the Year Award in 2009 from the Association of Energy Engineers for the lengths and efforts it went to for water and energy conservation.
The Facility Services Department is set to receive the award on July 24 during the 2014 APPA conference in San Diego.
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