Orange & Rockland Helps Local College with $1.1M Rebate

From Orange & Rockland: Orange & Rockland (O&R) has committed to an energy-efficiency rebate of $1.1 million - the largest in the Company’s history - to Rockland Community College (RCC).

The rebate is directed at RCC’s $11.1-million program to replace the highest-energy-using equipment on its Viola campus within the next 18 months with new, high-tech, energy-efficient equipment.

The rebate, which will be awarded as the project attains specific completion milestones, covers the retrofitting of nine buildings totaling approximately 629,000 square feet on the RCC campus. The work includes replacing heating and power plant equipment, interior and exterior lighting and building and computer energy- load management systems. The project is due to begin early in 2017.

Ecosystem, the engineering company performing the work, estimates the new equipment will result in the elimination of the discharge into the atmosphere of over 1,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas annually. That’s equivalent to the emissions from almost 400 cars or over 100 households.

Ecosystem calculates that the annual savings achieved through replacing RCC’s current major energy-using equipment with energy-efficient equipment totals about $558,000 annually.

The energy savings and project investment are guaranteed by Ecosystem as part of its energy-performance contract. The incentives are part of O&R’s commercial and industrial energy-efficiency programs.

“Rockland Community College is very grateful to O&R for its extraordinary support for this important energy reduction project on our campus. This partnership represents the positive outcome that can be achieved for our community when public and private entities collaborate," said Dr. Cliff L. Wood, President, Rockland Community College.

Ecosystem President and CEO Andre Rochette said, “This project will help RCC reduce future maintenance costs and improve the campus for students, faculty and staff.”

He added, “The Ecosystem team looks forward to achieving the energy savings guarantee, shrinking the campus’ carbon footprint and helping RCC become an even stronger leader in campus sustainability.”

O&R President and CEO Tim Cawley said, “This is an excellent example of how O&R partners with its customers to help them save energy, save money and save the environment. Reducing energy use is part of a sustainable business model that helps all of our customers provide for a more secure future. The technology reduces both operating costs and our customers’ carbon footprint.”

He added, “Energy-efficient equipment ends up paying for itself, especially when combined with the rebates that we provide. And, once the energy-efficient equipment pays itself off, the energy savings continue year after year.”

O&R energy efficiency programs are aligned with the New York State Public Service Commission’s (PSC) “Reforming the Energy Vision” initiatives to modernize the state’s energy utility industry. Among those initiatives are programs to motivate and empower customers to better understand and take control of their energy use as RCC has done.

O&R’s energy-efficiency programs have provided 20,000 customers who have invested in energy-saving equipment since 2009 over $17 million in rebates. Those programs have cut energy usage by over 90,000 MWh, slashed carbon emissions by over 32,000 tons and reduced peak demand by over 21 MW.

That 90,000 MWh is enough energy to power over 11,000 homes, and is equivalent to taking over 5,000 cars off the road. The 21 MWs of peak demand savings is enough to meet the peak demand needs of four Palisades Malls.

To learn more about O&R energy efficiency programs, visit us at www.oru.com/save.

Image via Shutterstock