Performance Contracting

Northern Kentucky University

Northern Kentucky UniversityHighland Heights, Kentucky

This performance contracting project included energy upgrades to more than 700,000 square feet, 8 buildings and associated maintenance tunnels for Northern Kentucky University, located in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Several systems had been put in place when the buildings were originally constructed and were over 40 years old.

It’s a demonstration of the power of basic energy upgrades that, regardless of the fact that this project did not include major geothermal system installations or solar photovoltaic arrays, the actual savings for Year 1 was $776,160 over the guaranteed amount.

The project was 100% funded through energy and operations savings.

Renovations included:

  • Over 9,000 new LED fixtures and retrofits to the Fine Arts Building, Steely Library, and MEP buildings
  • 182 VAV terminal units installed, including the replacement of constant volume units with variable volume units with controls
  • Central database for all meters on BAS system to determine energy consumption
  • 1 new AHU and control upgrades and commissioning for all AHUs in Lucas Administration Building
  • 1 new boiler burner in Power Plant
  • Installation of modern lab hood control system with room occupancy sensing capability
  • Upgrades to the steam distribution system

NKU Energy Usage

[{"x":"JAN","Baseline":"2947803.0","Guaranteed":"2710793.0","Actual":"2717786.0"},{"x":"FEB","Baseline":"5803359.0","Guaranteed":"5336757.0","Actual":"4849967.0"},{"x":"MAR","Baseline":"9227434.0","Guaranteed":"8485529.0","Actual":"6468698.0"},{"x":"APR","Baseline":"12726263.0","Guaranteed":"11703044.0","Actual":"8428979.0"},{"x":"MAY","Baseline":"16583335.0","Guaranteed":"15250000.0","Actual":"11067141.0"},{"x":"JUN","Baseline":"20897826.0","Guaranteed":"19217597.0","Actual":"14253443.0"},{"x":"JUL","Baseline":"25143083.0","Guaranteed":"23121526.0","Actual":"17483481.0"},{"x":"AUG","Baseline":"29389059.0","Guaranteed":"27026116.0","Actual":"20835809.0"},{"x":"SEP","Baseline":"32901157.0","Guaranteed":"30255834.0","Actual":"23923581.0"},{"x":"OCT","Baseline":"36128778.0","Guaranteed":"33223948.0","Actual":"25923581.0"},{"x":"NOV","Baseline":"38997897.0","Guaranteed":"35862383.0","Actual":"28173825.0"},{"x":"DEC","Baseline":"41830689.0","Guaranteed":"38467413.0","Actual":"30439898.0"}]
What does this data mean?
Baseline: The annual energy consumption before the project
Guaranteed: CMTA's guaranteed energy use for the client post-project
Actual: The measured energy use after the project