by Michael Montalvo and Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
UNM could save as much as $57 million over 10 years because of an energy conservation plan being negotiated by Lobo Energy Inc.
"This program is much different than other energy conservation plans," said David Harris, executive vice president for finance and administration. "If I were in charge of this program, I'd call it, 'Turn out the lights.'"
The goal is to have faculty and staff turn off equipment when it's not needed, including lights and computers, Harris said.
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UNM will invest about $14 million in the project over the next 10 years, according to the proposal. It's expected to save the University about $71.2 million during that period.
The Board of Regents voted to support the plan Aug. 14.
The plan will be contracted to Energy Education Inc., a Dallas company.
The beauty of the plan is that it's guaranteed to save money, said William Spears, president of the company.
"UNM will calculate the savings," he said. "If you spent more than you saved, Energy Education will write you a check."
Although the contract's details aren't worked out, UNM will implement the plan, said David Schmidly, UNM president.
Schmidly applied the plan while president of the Oklahoma State University system.
He said the results were remarkable.
"I was so impressed with the program that when I got here I thought, 'Why not do it here?'" he said.
The plan has been implemented in public school districts in several states, including Florida, Texas and Virginia, according to the company's Web site.
The staff of Energy Education Inc. will educate faculty and staff on energy-saving methods, Spears said.
Schmidly said UNM will offer incentives to help the program succeed, such as reducing the cost for benefits.
The savings would be applied to other expenses at the University.
"If we can save this kind of money on our utility bills, then we can put this money into any other aspect of the enterprise that we want to," Schmidly said. "It could mean that we don't have to raise tuition as much because we are not having to budget as much for utilities."
