Energy audit review reveals additional system upgrades will cut energy use nearly in half BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Eastern Kentucky University will be reducing its carbon impact and its energy bill even more than it anticipated last spring when the school announced plans to team with Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., and embark on a comprehensive program designed to boost the energy efficiency of facilities campus wide. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO ) After Siemens completed its energy audit of EKU facilities, a thorough review of its findings with the University's facility management staff revealed that an additional $5 million in upgrades to energy-intensive systems would yield significantly higher savings--more than enough to cost-justify the now larger, $27 million investment. The performance-based sustainability project will be financed by a lease which will be paid back over a 13-year period from the energy savings guaranteed by Siemens once the system upgrades are completed. Eastern Kentucky University President Dr. Doug Whitlock announced his decision to increase the scope of the project August 19 after reviewing the revised plan. "The Siemens sustainability project at Eastern Kentucky University is simply good business, from both an economic and environmental perspective. I'm pleased that the Siemens project has positioned EKU as a leader in energy efficiency in the Commonwealth and already brought positive national attention to Eastern. But most of all I'm excited that this innovative venture allows the University to achieve and advance its core mission while becoming an even better steward of the public trust and hard-earned taxpayer dollars." According to James Street, Eastern's associate vice president of Capital Planning and Facilities Management, the guaranteed energy savings performance project focuses on upgrades and retrofits to energy-intensive building systems across the campus including heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, lighting and other systems that consume water and fossil-fuel based energy resources like electricity and natural gas. "Eastern's utility bill is approximately $6.4 million annually," says Street. "With Siemens help we will be saving nearly $8,000 a day in energy expenses and when you add that up, we're going to be cutting our on-campus utility consumption roughly in two." Siemens contract guarantees EKU will save 24,665,190 kWh of electricity, 89,329 mcf of natural gas, 1,729 tons of coal, 102,585 ccf of water and 138,584 ccf of sewer. The project's impact on the environment will be as equally dramatic. According to Siemens over the 13-year period of the contract, Eastern's energy savings will be comparable to removing 6,229 cars from the road, growing 227 acres of forest or not using some 79,000 barrels of oil. Similarly, over the contract's duration Eastern will have reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, NOx and SO2) by nearly 76 million pounds. As a leading provider of energy and environmental solutions, building controls, fire safety and security systems solutions, Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., makes buildings comfortable, safe, secure and less costly to operate. With U.S. headquarters in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Siemens Building Technologies employs 7,400 people and provides a full range of services and solutions from more than 100 locations coast-to-coast. Worldwide, the company has 28,000 employees and operates from more than 500 locations in 51 countries. For more information on Siemens Building Technologies, visit: http://www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: Steven E. Kuehn of Siemens Building Technologies, +1-847-941-6047, Web Site: http://www.sbt.siemens.com/ http://www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/119040.html

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