ISU Bengal

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Alisha Hatch

From small changes to revolutionary ideas, ISU is taking steps to conserve energy and is becoming a frontrunner in the move to make college campuses "green." Many students are probably unaware of the small changes ISU has made over the past few years to cut back its energy bill by over $500,000 a year.

In 2002 ISU brought in Chevron Energy Solutions to do an energy audit. This audit assessed all of ISU's energy uses and determined what could be changed to reduce energy usage. They drafted a $6 million contract with Chevron Energy Solutions that would guarantee $500,000 in energy savings per year.

Darrell Buffaloe, Associate Vice President for Facilities Services, said they saw the success of the University of Utah's energy contract and decided to implement their own program. The construction for the project was completed by 2005 and ISU has exceeded their $500,000 savings goal every year since then.

Buffaloe says they should have their $6 million bond for the project paid off in 16 years from the time they signed the contract, and "after that the money will go back into education."

ISU has also started a few energy education programs at ISU and around the community. Around ISU they have behavioral training programs that are designed to encourage ISU employees to do simple things, like turn off lights and computers, to help conserve energy. "That'll be something we'll always have to work on," Buffaloe said.

ISU has also used grant money to visit elementary schools and educate kids on water and energy conservation.

"These kids will bring these lessons back to their homes," Syed Hashim, ISU's environmental specialist said. Hashim said the kids were given ticket books and were told to be the "energy police." They were instructed to keep an eye out and write tickets whenever somebody was wasting energy. From these efforts alone, some of the schools were able to cut back their energy bills by 10 to 15 percent.

According to Hashim and Buffaloe, if everyone in the Pocatello area were to cut back on energy usage by five percent, the community would save around $5 million.

"That would be $5 million that would come back in to the community," Buffaloe said.

ISU has big plans for the future as well. They have joined with the Idaho National Laboratories, the University of Idaho and Boise State University to build the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, the first building in Idaho to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver rating, which means it is a highly energy efficient building. The building should be complete in August 2008 and will be used to research the best energy sources.

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