Tulsa Community College is Rewarded for Energy Efficiency
Tulsa Community College was presented a check for more than $120,000 from Public Service Company of Oklahoma for participation in the company’s Smart Schools Program. Combined with a previous payment of approximately $114,000, has earned Smart Schools incentives from totaling more than $234,000.
Smart Schools is offered by to help school districts and institutions of higher education reduce operating costs by identifying and implementing energy efficiency improvement projects.
earned its incentive payments for performing campus-wide lighting retrofits to new high-efficiency lighting at the school’s Metro, Southeast, West and Northeast campuses. The amount of the incentives was determined by the total amount of energy the new equipment will save.
“The incentives from certainly validate our investment in energy efficiency,” Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Nevins says. “It’s also important that we set a positive example for our students and our community and reducing our energy use is a good way to help do that.”
The new high efficiency lighting systems will conserve about 2.9 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 235,000 gallons of gasoline, according to Environmental Protection Agency calculations.
“We identified a real need for an energy efficiency program that specifically targets schools, especially as budgets are spread thin,” adds Kathy Champion, PSO’s energy efficiency and consumer programs manager. “By partnering with to reduce energy costs, their valuable resources can be used for other needed projects.”
“The Smart Schools Program helped us identify ways we can conserve energy and save money,” said Nevins. “That money can be reinvested directly into our classrooms.”
, a unit of American Electric Power, is an electric utility company serving approximately 533,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state.
Updated 01-24-2011
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