The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced that it has awarded D’Youville College in Buffalo $155,000 to support energy efficiency upgrades to its six-story, mixed-use academic facility.

The project is expected to save D’Youville nearly $73,500 annually through the reduction of 4,389 million Btu of natural gas and 403,668 kilowatt hours of electricity. The savings are enough to meet the gas and electricity needs of 60 homes annually.

“As academic institutions look for opportunities to reduce costs, D’Youville is an example of how a commitment to energy efficiency can decrease energy consumption and costs as well as have a positive impact on the environment,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., president and CEO, NYSERDA. “Governor Cuomo has made energy efficiency a priority in New York State as the state looks to provide an energy future that is reliable and affordable for all New Yorkers.”

NYSERDA’s $155,000 incentive helped D’Youville defray a portion of the implementation cost to install the energy efficiency improvements at D’Youville’s 85,000-square-foot, six-story academic facility, which consists of offices, classrooms and laboratories.

“The significant savings D’Youville will realize is extremely important to a college such as ours, and NYSERDA made the process easy to navigate. The incentive was critical to implementing the needed efficiencies,” said Donald G. Keller, D’Youville’s vice president for operations.

The new academic building is projected to be 28 percent more energy efficient than New York State energy code requires. The major energy efficiency measures include insulation, a water loop heat pump system, energy-efficient lighting and occupancy controls. A water loop heat pump system is used in buildings with simultaneous cooling and heating needs; the heat rejected by the cooling units is used to warm the zones calling for heat. Projects that incorporate lighting occupancy controls typically save 10 to 20 percent more energy than those without them.

Funding for this project is through NYSERDA’s New Construction Program (NCP), which provides technical support to design teams and financial incentives to building owners involved in the construction of new or substantially renovated structures in New York State. NCP is a first-come, first-served program available to commercial, institutional and industrial sector customers of certain utilities. NCP incentives are paid out upon project completion. The intent of the program is not only to improve energy efficiency and green building practices, but to effect a permanent transformation in the way buildings are designed and constructed throughout the state. 

D'Youville is an independent Catholic College located in Buffalo. Founded by the Grey Nuns in 1908, D'Youville offers undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in allied health professions, education, business and liberal arts.