Successful energy management teams come in all shapes and sizes, but common elements include strong leadership, support from upper management, a multi-functional team made up of dedicated personnel, regular meetings and team accountability. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) is home to a very successful team that is achieving its energy goals by continually working to keep projects and awareness top of mind.

With main campuses in Green Bay, Marinette and Sturgeon Bay, as well as five additional locations, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College started its energy team in 2007. The school structured the team in a similar fashion to all its groups, programs and committees to give it a solid foundation and offer participants a sense of continuity.

The team is cross-functional and comprised of a variety of staff members, including the chief financial officer, director of facilities, maintenance supervisor and mechanics, capitol projects manager, IT director and other faculty and staff, along with representatives from its local utility and Focus on Energy.

The team meets every month using video-conferencing software to connect group members at the eight campuses. At the conclusion of each meeting, notes are posted on NWTC’s intranet so the entire faculty can see what the team is working on.
“It’s important that everyone knows what our goals are,” says Dan Seidl, director of facilities at NWTC and energy team leader.

Together, the team found ample ways to save energy at its state-of-the-art facilities, which serve more than 42,000 students every year.

“We started the team to reduce costs and improve our energy-efficiency efforts,” says Seidl. “I attended the Practical Energy Management training seminar through Focus on Energy and that was a major piece for us to get all the tools we needed to start our team.”

Since starting the team, the college has saved more than 900,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 9,000 therms of natural gas annually — enough energy to power 100 Wisconsin homes for a year. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College has also saved $80,000 on its energy bills each year.

“Overall, we’ve cut energy consumption by 14 percent from last year,” Seidl explains. Some of the projects NWTC has completed include:

• Replacing more than 900 light fixtures with high-performance, energy-efficient models.
• Adding occupancy sensors to several light fixtures.
• Heating upgrades, including installing infrared heating units.
• Upgrading to energy-efficient NEMA Premium motors, which reduce electrical demand by up to 18 percent.
• Installing variable-speed drives on motors, giving users a finer degree of control and saving energy.
• Continuing preventive maintenance on chillers and boilers, which improves equipment operating efficiency, prolongs equipment life and reduces the need for costly emergency repairs and equipment downtime.

The team has also focused on behavioral changes and education across the campuses, including turning off computers and monitors at night and utilizing monitor sleep-mode settings. Students also help with some of the team’s projects.

“We are training students for their future and getting the students more involved with our efforts,” Seidl says.

The team continues to find new projects. “Right now we’re working on some lighting projects, retrocommissioning our three main campuses, as well as working on a performance contract bid to make sure our buildings are running as efficiently as possible,” Seidl explains. “In the future, we’re planning to focus on conservation, education, renewable energy and transportation as we work toward reducing our carbon footprint 25 percent by 2013.”

Would you like help starting an energy management team at your facility?

The experts at Focus can help. Call (800) 762-7077 or visit focusonenergy.com today to take advantage of free resources, technical expertise, training opportunities, financial incentives and project ideas (with proven track records of success!) to help you increase efficiency and boost your bottom line.