For the University, pinching pennies on power is paying dividends.
Penn saves over $5 million per year on energy, officials say, and it does it the same way any homeowner would: by turning off lights and keeping a close eye on the heating and cooling systems.
The savings represent almost 10 percent of 2005's total electricity and steam bill of nearly $53 million.
Key to this effort of cutting costs is reducing the University's "peak demand" -- the rate at which it consumes energy at its peak.
Due to a contract with the PECO Energy Company, Penn is never billed for less than 80 percent of its peak demand, even on days when energy costs the University far less, said Executive Director of Operations for Facilities Services Michael Coleman.
The University hits its peak demand during the summer. As a result, Coleman said, officials have gone to great lengths to reduce electricity usage in the summer, since this also reduces the peak demand and, therefore, the costs of energy for the entire year.
"We try to push thermostats to 78 degrees," he said. "We ask people to do it, and we try to do it through the controls we have" in Penn offices.
Many campus buildings are cooled via an electricity-driven chilled-water loop. The cool water is carefully managed on hot days to reduce electricity usage.
"By generating our own chilled water and maintaining it, it allows us to be more flexible and creative in ways that we can trim down energy during peak days," Coleman said.
He added that the University was able to reduce its peak demand significantly in 2000 and has maintained this lower level of electricity usage despite the addition of new buildings to campus.
Vice President in the Office of Budget and Management Analysis Bonnie Gibson said University employees are also asked to turn off unnecessary lights on particularly hot days and are informed by e-mail of the need to conserve electricity.
Coleman said he can rotationally shut off the air conditioning in certain buildings, adding that he asks administrators to turn off the lights in buildings that are not being used.
Gibson said that energy-efficient windows have been installed in Fisher-Bennett Hall, Williams Hall and the high rises, among others, and that the University has made an effort to replace old lighting in campus buildings. Both these measures help conserve energy.
Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli said because Penn is "under-endowed" compared to some of its peer institutions, the University must "be more careful with money to compete" with other top schools.
"At Penn, we stretch a dollar further than ... our peers do," he said.
