Our Commitment

Our agreement with The Ohio State University is designed to conserve energy and further Ohio State’s academic mission.

Supporting Sustainability at Ohio State

We have made specific and meaningful commitments that will help Ohio State become an international leader.

Sustainability leadership

We’re helping Ohio State become an international leader in sustainability through implementation of innovative technologies and ideas.

Energy reduction

We’re helping Ohio State meet its goal of reducing overall energy consumption by a minimum of 25 percent within 10 years. To reach this goal, the partnership is designing a series of interrelated energy conservation projects tailored to Ohio State’s specific needs.

Cost reductions

We’re reducing operating and maintenance costs by ENGIE’s global O&M expertise and through new and improved technologies.

Service reliability

We’re committed to uninterrupted service and occupant comfort in all Columbus campus buildings.

Academic Collaboration

We’ve committed $150 million to support various academic collaboration initiatives including the Energy Advancement and Innovation Center, outside the scope of the Comprehensive Energy Management Project.

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Energy conservation collaboration to help the university meet its energy efficiency goals.

Ohio State Energy Partners will collaborate with Ohio State to continuously look for ways to extend energy conservation measures across the entire campus, which the university will approve before implementation. These measures will help the university to meet or exceed its target reductions in overall energy consumption.

Current and Future Energy Efficiency Projects
Smart Meters

A smart meter is a digital communication tool which will monitor, collect and communicate a building’s energy usage in real time. This technology is being installed in over 350 campus buildings and will provide crucial statistics to manage and reduce overall energy consumption.

Indoor Lighting

Building audit teams have started to canvas campus to research the current lighting fixtures installed within specific buildings. Legacy bulbs will be replaced with energy-efficient LED bulbs in a variety of lighting systems. This provides energy savings and a standardization of the lights used throughout campus.

Outdoor Lighting

A review of the existing outdoor lighting systems is underway. Updating the existing bulbs will provide brighter, more energy-efficient glow, which will also serve as an enhanced safety feature at night. This project includes the replacement of 1,786 lamps with LED lamps and 449 discolored globes. The installation of WiFi antennas/cables in 250 globes will improve the WiFi network coverage of the overall campus.

Oval Tunnel

Repairs and upgrades of steam pipe, domestic water lines and utility tunnels under the Oval. This project repaired and upgraded over 3,000 linear feet of utility infrastructure within the tunnels under the Oval. Construction began during the 2018 summer semester and permanent steam was restored in October 2018. Temporary steam was provided to research laboratories, restaurants, art galleries and the comic book museum to maintain business continuity.

This project improved efficiency of the distribution system, extended the life of the campus’ heating supply by 50 years, improved the long-term reliability and structural integrity of this portion of the utility system, removed asbestos, renewed thermal insulation, removed domestic water from the tunnels and resulted in improved mobility within the tunnels, water savings, and fewer water leaks, removed abandoned piping (heating hot water) and resulted in improved mobility within the tunnels and reduced hazard of domestic water line breaks inundating steam tunnels.

Reaching our goals

The partnership will propose a series of interrelated energy conservation measures tailored to Ohio State’s specific needs. Future energy conservation measures utilizing the newest technologies will be developed in cooperation with the university.

Minimum of 25% reduction in energy consumption within 10 years.