Just about every homeowner has received a whopping electric bill and promptly vowed to cut energy costs. The measures to achieve this are fairly simple--raise the thermostat a bit in the summer, run the dishwasher every few days instead of daily, switch to lower-wattage light bulbs.

For an institution the size of Penn, however, reducing energy costs is more complicated. The University spends between $33-35 million a year on energy--primarily steam and electricity. With approximately 132 buildings of varying age and size, some containing medical and laboratory facilities, it takes meticulous planning and strategic investments to reduce costs significantly while at the same time becoming more efficient.

Penn's Department of Physical Plant has done just that, with the development of a comprehensive five-year energy plan that has already saved the University some $3 million, and that will have a value of $4.26 million in annual savings when projected out to the year 2000. The energy-savings plan covers all University buildings.

"We're always looking for ways to reduce energy costs at the University while improving the quality of life for all our community members," said James Wargo, executive director of the Department of Physical Plant. "Our five-year plan is a component of the University's restructuring effort, and comprises five programs already underway and four proposed projects."

When projected savings for the proposed programs are added to those already in place, the savings to the University by the year 2000 is expected to reach $8.8 million in annual savings.

The five projects currently underway are the lighting project; capacitor installation; winter free cooling; utility tariff restructuring; and chiller plant Module 6. (See below.)

The lighting project calls for replacing all lights in University buildings with new energy-efficient fluorescent lights.

"Manufacturers of lights are always looking to develop more energy-efficient lights," Mr. Wargo noted. "And our experience has shown that not only are they more energy efficient, but they produce equal- or better- quality light."

Frequently the right time to change lights in a building is when other maintenance or renovation is underway, he said. This was the case with the Evans Building in the Dental School and the Moore building at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The Nursing Education Building is a large project currently underway.

"When we do projects in buildings we stress the fact that this is the time to install energy-efficient lights," Mr. Wargo said. "We then calculate the savings in those buildings where we've changed lights and project this out to the entire University."

The plan projects savings of $4.1 million from the lighting project at the end of the five years.

The department estimates some $400,000 in savings through installation of capacitors in four of the University's five electrical substations, which are fed electricity by PECO. The utility sets a standard for efficient use of the electricity it provides, and the University must pay a penalty if it fails to meet that standard. By installing capacitors, which are pieces of electrical equipment that ensure efficient energy flow, the University was able to improve efficiency and save money.

The department has also responded to the demands from the University's growing research enterprise, where many laboratories require cool, constant temperatures even in winter to assure validity of research results. Because of this need, many research areas had purchased local chillers to keep their labs cool. This equipment was expensive and not particularly efficient, Mr. Wargo said. In response to this, the department developed a "winter free cooling" program, in which water, cooled by the outside air temperature--and already stored in two of the University's six chilled water plants' cooling towers--was winterized to keep from freezing. When labs need cooling, the cooled water is then exported through an exchanger to the building for their winter cooling needs.

This has saved approximately $150,000, according to Mr. Wargo.

Finally, the University successfully negotiated a new tariff with the electric and steam companies, for a savings of approximately $1.9 million for University buildings and an additional $600,000 for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Physical plant's next major energy-saving initiatives are a proposal to complete the lighting-replacement program throughout the entire University; a plan to install more capacitors; and upgrading automated systems to give the department more comprehensive information on how the University's substations and chiller plants are operating, thereby enabling the department to determine the most efficient and cost-effective ways to provide energy throughout the University.

And it doesn't stop there, Mr. Wargo said. "We've started out with the 'macro' view, looking at the whole University," he said. "Next, we will move on to the 'micro' view, that is, working with individual schools to develop their own energy-savings programs."

--Phyllis Holtzman

This is where Module 6 comes in. The new plant, at 38th and Walnut Sts., was designed with an ice-producing system. At night, during off-peak hours, the plant produces 20,000 ton-hours of ice. During the day, the ice is "burned," or melted, to produce chilled water for air conditioning, reducing the need to use electrically driven chillers.

The ice-storage system was designed with the capability to produce an instantaneous 4,000 tons of chilled water during designated peak hours, thereby reducing the measured electrical demand, Mr. Wargo said. This has saved the University approximately $700,000 a year.