PITTSBURGH—The
Community College of Allegheny County is pleased to announce a partnership with
the U.S. Energy Department’s Better Buildings Challenge, a leadership
initiative aiming to create energy efficiency solutions and accelerate
investments by companies, organizations and local government. As a partner in
the Better Buildings Challenge, CCAC has set an ambitious goal of improving the
energy efficiency of its entire 1.5 million-square-foot building portfolio by
20 percent within 10 years.
CCAC joins a
group of more than 310 Better Buildings Challenge partners who are leading the
energy efficiency sector by deploying solutions and strategies to improve the
efficiency of the nation’s buildings, plants and homes. By partnering with the
Energy Department, CCAC will share successful strategies that maximize
efficiency over the next decade. Since President Obama launched the Better
Buildings Challenge in 2011, program partners, which manage 4.2 billion square
feet, are sharing energy performance data on more than 34,000 properties and
have saved $1.3 billion and 160 trillion BTUs of energy.
“Thanks to a
dedicated drive to actively create and share the best energy efficiency
solutions, Better Buildings partners have dramatically cut their energy waste
and saved more than a billion dollars since the Better Buildings initiative was
launched five years ago,”
said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “As the initiative continues to grow, we
are moving the nation forward by reducing energy costs and carbon emissions
through energy efficiency.”
Historically,
CCAC has spent more than $3 million a year on utilities, which is the second
largest expenditure in its operating budget. The college has completed a major
retrofit project at its South Campus, which has resulted in more than $255,000
in energy cost savings from May 15, 2015 to March 30, 2016. The savings will
continue to increase as the project is fully phased in.As the lighting and mechanical systems in other college facilities are
replaced, they will also be upgraded to high efficiency systems. In addition,
CCAC’s Facilities Management Department is researching and writing guidelines to
support a new college-wide Energy Policy that will address equipment
operations, system operations, process controls and behavior-based components.
“CCAC’s
participation in the Better Buildings Challenge reaffirms the college’s
commitment to being an innovative and responsible community partner,” said CCAC President Dr. Quintin Bullock. “By
actively working to reduce energy consumption, we are demonstrating our resolve
to be an environmentally conscientious institution and reduce our carbon
footprint. Not only does this help the college save on energy costs, it enables
CCAC to use its resources to fund areas critical to student success, namely, to
enhance student programming and services.”
For more
information on the Better Buildings Challenge, go to: http://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.gov. To view the full list of partners and
read about their results, showcase projects and innovative solutions being
shared with others, see the 2016 Progress Report.
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About the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC)
CCAC annually educates nearly 30,000 credit
students through more than 150 degree, certificate, diploma and transfer
programs and offers thousands of students access to noncredit and workforce
development courses. The learning-centered institution’s mission is to provide
affordable access to quality education and offer a dynamic, diverse and
supportive learning environment that prepares the region’s residents for
academic, professional and personal success in our changing global society.
CCAC’s quality programs enable students to transfer credits to approximately
500 colleges and universities and support regional workforce needs with
accessible instruction available day, evening, weekend and online in Allegheny
County and beyond. Visit www.ccac.edu to learn more.