Catawba gets award for energy efficiency

Catawba earns award for energy efficiency

Catawba College is among 13 Duke Energy customers in five states to receive Duke Energy’s 2011 Power Partner Award. The awards, given since 1992, recognize customers who work with Duke Energy to achieve high levels of energy efficiency, sustainability and economic growth.

Catawba was nominated for the award by its Duke Energy account representative Yolanda Simms. The college was selected as one of the 13 award recipients from across Duke Energy’s service territories in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. In addition to Catawba, Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., was the only other higher education institution to receive a 2011 Power Partner Award.

In Catawba’s award nomination, Simms cited the college for its “innovative use of energy” and its partnership with Duke Energy “to improve overall energy efficiency and sustainability.” The nomination noted that Catawba was a 2007 signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a sustainability leader through its Center for the Environment, and an innovator for its use of energy in the geothermal system that heats and cools 12 campus buildings, along with the solar hot water system recently installed in its gymnasium.

The nomination further explained that Catawba is currently partnering with Duke Energy on two projects – the Smart Metering pilot and the Smart Building Advantage. The Smart Metering program provides the college with energy usage data from nine buildings on campus and will allow the college to improve its sustainability efforts.

In the Smart Building Advantage program, Duke Energy completed detailed energy assessments of one residence hall, Barger-Zartman, and one academic building, Ketner Hall. The assessments included revisions to each building’s HVAC and lighting system and could yield substantial annual energy savings for Catawba.

Other 2011 Power Partner Award recipients include Aldi in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio; Bank of America in Charlotte; EMC Corporation in Durham; ESSROC Materials in Speed, Ind.; Fairfield City Schools in Fairfield, Ohio; Frontier Spinning Mills in Mayodan; the city of Greenville, S.C.; Kings Local School District in Liberty Township, Ohio; Kohl’s Department Stores in Indiana, Kentucky, N.C., S.C. and Ohio; Lincoln Financial Group in Greensboro; and Temple Inland in Indianapolis, Ind.