Founded in 1831, Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Middletown, CT. The University occupies a 316-acre campus, with 150 wood-frame single-family houses, 80 traditional academic buildings, and 70 buildings used for maintenance, storage, and multi-family homes for staff and offices. Weslyan’s student body of approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 200 graduate students are housed and educated on this campus.

CHALLENGE

Wesleyan had completed over a decade’s worth of phased comprehensive energy improvement projects, resulting in a 5% reduction in energy consumption. In search of more significant savings, they sought an energy efficiency proposal to help the University accomplish its carbon-neutral goal by 2050. All projects needed to be completed before students returned to school later that summer.

SOLUTION

Despite this time constraint, FES completed an energy audit and provided a proposal for prioritized lighting upgrades and controls projects at multiple buildings throughout campus, including Freeman Athletic Center, Hall Atwater Laboratory, Usdan University Center, Olin Memorial Library, Shanklin Laboratory and Boger Hall which houses the College of Letters, Art History Department and Career Center. In total, work included the replacement of approximately 8,000 fluorescent and incandescent fixtures with LEDs and the installation of networked lighting controls in 6 high-traffic and heavily utilized buildings.

RESULTS

FES’s lighting efficiency improvements were a success – the new lighting produced a significant reduction in annual electrical usage and the financial savings that come with it. As a result, the University received an Eversource Energy incentive for nearly $550,000 upon project completion, which helped mitigate investment costs.

EXECUTED BY

Environmental Systems Co.

CLIENT

Wesleyan University

CLIENT REFERENCE

Mike Mussatto
General Manager

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Energy Audit, LED Lighting, Networked Controls

PROJECT TYPE

Building Automation, Energy Services

PROJECT SIZE

8,000 lights replaced with LED

BUILDING TYPE

Education

FES TEAM MEMBERS/ROLES

Daniela Iozzo, Energy Project Manager