SUNY CCC Receives Check from Siemens
On Tuesday, November 16, 2021, SUNY Corning Community College received $10,500 in funding from the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for installing new smart building technology in seven of its academic buildings across the campus. This funding comes from SUNY CCC’s participation in the NYSERDA Real Time Energy Management Program through a comprehensive energy efficiency and smart buildings upgrade project with Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Sara Culotta, Energy & Sustainability Lead for Siemens, presented the check to SUNY CCC President, Dr. Bill Mullaney, who was accompanied by Physical Plant Director Calvin Williams, Eriko Motegi Heise, Science Faculty, Susan Chandler, Executive Director of Finance and Amaro Chavez, STEM Student.
“This event celebrates and recognizes the College’s accomplishments in energy and carbon reduction across all campus facilities. It’s about using energy wisely and keeping college operating costs down. It’s also about health, safety and comfort in the college’s buildings,” said Culotta. Siemens Smart Infrastructure has worked closely with Williams and his team to implement many building improvements, including the Real Time Energy Management system.
“Through the decarbonization process,” Calvin Williams, Director of Physical Plant at SUNY CCC says, “the College has already replaced outdated boilers, shifted to LED lighting, and even installed solar arrays. “As we went into the project, we targeted about a 20% lowering of our energy use and we have realized through our data collection that we are at that target or a little above.”
Reducing the Carbon Footprint
The new system automatically collects, analyzes and reports granular energy and building performance data to help the college further reduce its carbon footprint. Physical Plant staff will also use the fault detection and diagnostics to quickly troubleshoot heating, cooling and ventilation issues in classrooms, labs and offices. “Make sure, first of all, that there is the best health and safety in the building, that ventilation is well-managed,” said Culotta.
Culotta said Siemens Smart Infrastructure has been working with the College to make energy-efficient improvements across the campus through a $3.5 million energy performance contract.
“This supports the College’s sustainability goals, and also delivers on the goals of the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and is an example of the type of infrastructure improvements that will be funded by the Infrastructure bill signed recently at the White House,” Culotta added.
Over three years, the NYSERDA RTEM funding will totally approximately $24,600.
Siemens is committed to a long-term partnership with SUNY CCC to create a campus that is a living lab for clean energy, training the next generation of workers needed for the global energy transformation.
NYS Senator Thomas F. O’Mara said, “This is great work and a fantastic collaboration between the Siemens Corporation, NYSERDA, and SUNY Corning Community College on an important, innovative, and cutting-edge energy efficiency project. It delivers critical cost savings to the college and showcases the Siemens real time energy management solution as a worldwide leader in this arena. It’s a smart State investment that will provide meaningful benefits.”
WENY-TV multi-media reporter Cody Taylor represented the media and reported on this event.
Learn more about SUNY Corning Community College at corning-cc.edu
Photo by Don Sherman, SUNY CCC Marketing
