Florida A&M University Doubles Down on Energy Efficiency With Siemens Performance Contract

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., May. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida A&M University (FAMU) has chosen Siemens to implement a $12.2 million performance contract that will save the historically black college and university (HBCU) approximately $1.2 million in equivalent guaranteed annual energy savings. In 2009, FAMU engaged Siemens to deliver Phase 1, a $2.4 million project that successfully introduced the energy efficiency and financial benefits of performance contracting to the school.

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Much broader in scope than Phase 1, Phase 2 aims to partially decentralize FAMU's obsolete central steam plant heating system—an element of the overall project that will put local contractors to work and prompt a local mechanical systems company on the project to hire several additional employees to do the job.

"Our first project with Siemens gave us the opportunity to see first hand the financial and operational effectiveness of performance contracting," said FAMU President James H. Ammons. "We are moving forward with Phase 2—a project that will yield tremendous energy savings and support campus sustainability measures far into the future."

The 18-month project which began in May includes a multitude of facility infrastructure improvements including the steam system infrastructure renovation, an advanced solar-thermal heating system for the swimming pool, central chilled water and steam plant improvements, building automation improvements and ventilation and dehumidification improvements for the library.

Because plans call for partial decentralization of the steam heating plant and the implementation of other facility improvement measures to campus' buildings, energy savings will be dramatic. For example, natural gas consumption will be reduced 42.6 percent which represents an annual equivalent savings of $706,204. Electricity consumption will be reduced 12.1 percent, creating some $563,909 in equivalent cost savings on top of reductions and savings that came from implementing Phase 1.

Siemens longstanding experience delivering performance contracts to institutions of higher education served to boost the confidence of school officials rightly anxious about the ambitions of the project. "On many levels Siemens worked with the FAMU facilities personnel to help them understand that other universities with similar campus profiles in the southern United States have successfully decentralized their steam systems," said Dave Hopping, vice president and building automation business unit lead for Siemens Building Technologies. "We worked closely with these schools so FAMU officials could see for themselves how well these improvements can work to increase efficiency."

Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector, with approximately 87,000 employees worldwide, offers sustainable technologies for metropolitan areas and their infrastructures. Its offerings include complete traffic and transportation systems, intelligent logistics, efficient energy supply, environmentally compatible building technologies, modernization of the way power is transmitted and distributed, and smart consumption of electricity.  The sector is comprised of the Rail Systems, Mobility and Logistics, Low and Medium Voltage, Smart Grid and Building Technologies Divisions as well as Osram Sylvania.  For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/infrastructure-cities

The Siemens Building Technologies Division is the world's market leader for safe and energy efficient buildings ("green buildings") and infrastructures. As a service provider, system integrator and product vendor, Building Technologies has offerings for building automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), fire protection and security. For more information, visit http://www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies

SOURCE Siemens