Strategic Energy Plan

 

Act 1494 of the 87th General Assembly Regular Session – 2009, promotes the conservation of energy and natural resources in buildings owned by public agencies and institutions of higher education with primary goals to reduce total energy consumption by 20% by 2014 and 30% by 2017 when compared to Fiscal Year 2008 (July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008). Under its own governance, each institution of higher education shall develop and administer policies, procedures, and methods for compliance with the criteria, performance standards, and goals as detailed in Act 1494. The specific strategies and efforts by each higher education institution to achieve these goals should be documented in a Strategic Energy Plan (StEP). This StEP is hereby submitted on behalf of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS), an institution of higher education, to document its compliance with the requirements of Act 1494.

 

The UAFS campus, located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, is an institution of higher education consisting of 30 individual buildings on the main campus. Total floor area of UAFS properties is approximately 1,073,547 square feet. UAFS has experienced substantial growth in enrollments, faculty, facilities, and curricula over the past few years and has become an integral part of the Fort Smith community by offering a wide range of educational, occupational, cultural, and recreational opportunities. Currently, UAFS is renovating and constructing a 35,977 SF expansion of Boreham Library. This project is expected to be complete in 2012 bringing the total floor area to 1,109,524 SF.

 

As an integral part of the community, energy efficiency and sustainability has become a strong focus for campus operations. New building designs as well as existing building operations are closely evaluated to maximize the social and economic impact on the campus as well as the community. Based on historical utility data, energy use on square foot basis (i.e., Energy Use Index or EUI) for Fiscal Year 2008 was determined to be 111.5 kBtu/SF for the entire UAFS campus. A 20% reduction from this baseline would result in a EUI of 89.2 kBtu/SF with a 30% reduction yielding a EUI of 78.1 kBtu/SF.

 

UAFS’s commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency has resulted in energy and cost reductions over the past several years. When compared to Fiscal Year 2008 baseline energy use, UAFS has reduced its campus-wide EUI by 4.44% based on utility data through Fiscal Year 2010. This energy use reduction has resulting in a cost savings of approximately $140,000 per year despite an increase in total floor area of approximately 124,000 square feet during this time period. Additionally, future planned projects on campus totaling an estimated capital investment of $3,825,000 will further improve energy efficiency on campus and will reinforce UAFS’ commitment to sustainable operations and economic stewardship. With these planned projects, UAFS anticipates a EUI of 96.5 kBtu/SF by June 2012 (a net 13.48% reduction from FY2008) and 95.0 kBtu/SF by June 2013 (a net 14.84% reduction from FY2008). Even though these future planned projects are not expected to achieve the energy reduction targets as outlined in Act 1494, UAFS continues to investigate and evaluate future projects to achieve these goals.