Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[Narrator] The University of San Diego
For over 60 years, this Catholic, non-profit institution of higher learning
has been educating San Diego's brightest.
With energy playing a major role in operations and cost, today the school
serves a community of over eight thousand.
[Len Hering] Energy is a significant cost for a university of this size,
especially when you get into research, science, and those type of efforts.
So, everything that we do, we track every single penny, right down to the kilowatt,
if you will, looking for watt savings across the board.
[Michael Catanzaro] A little bit of hard work is really all it takes to be successful.
We've got our partners with SDG&E and our other consultants
that really help us save a ton, a ton of energy.
We identified HVAC projects, and we also did some plant optimization
and changed out about ten thousand light bulbs around campus.
We've saved about twenty percent of our energy usage this year, which is almost a million dollars.
[Narrator] Producing 70% of its own power, The University of San Diego is innovating
through the use of renewable energy.
USD also leverages the SDG&E partnership program,
extending its efforts to include student involvement.
[Michael Catanzaro] We're really proud to be one of thirteen partners in SDG&E's
Energy Efficiency Partnership Program.
And it gives us funds to really reach out and educate our students
about not only the projects we've done, but ways in which students can, in their lives,
use energy efficiency measures to make the world a better place.
[Narrator] From retrofits, to renewables, to energy education,
USD is setting an example others really can follow.
[Roger Manion] It sounds difficult. It is really easy to do.
A lot of people ask us, you know, 'How did you save five million kW?'
It's just changing out lights and changing how you think about things and how you operate.
It's really simple.
[Len Hering] Start asking the question: Why are we doing it that way?
What can we do? How can we change the environment for tomorrow
so that we can be more responsible for our environment?
[Narrator] The University of San Diego 2011 Higher Education Energy Champion.