Retrofit Guelph: Get Active!
We need your help getting the University to commit to the full energy retrofit. Here are some ways you can get involved…
Write to the University of Guelph administration
Encourage them to support the retrofit. Write your own letter, or print the letter provided and drop it in the on-campus mail. You can download the letter in Word format, or cut and paste the text below.
Nancy Sullivan
Vice President (Finance and Administration)
4th Floor University Centre
University of Guelph
Dear Ms. Sullivan,
I am writing you to draw your attention to a very important issue affecting the University of Guelph. The Physical Resources Department has prepared a proposal for a campus wide energy retrofit for presentation to the Board of Governors. This proposal, if implemented, will significantly cut the University’s energy waste, costs and environmental impacts. As a member of the University of Guelph community who identifies the benefit of adopting economically and environmentally responsible measures, I strongly encourage you to support this project.
The benefits of an energy retrofit are numerous. The most attractive of these benefits is a massive reduction in energy costs. The $1.6 million in annual energy savings would not only pay back the entire capital costs in 7-10 years, but would be available to the University after this period as essentially extra income. Energy retrofits are a tried and tested form of energy reduction meaning that there would be little or no risk involved in this investment. MCW Custom Energy Solutions Ltd., the company involved in the initial energy audit, guarantees this amount of energy savings. The University of Manitoba currently saves $2.65 million per year, a full $750,000 more than was originally estimated by MCW as the annual savings. Indeed most large institutional retrofits save much more than is originally guaranteed by the contracted company.
In addition, the energy retrofit would help remediate the University’s large deferred maintenance costs. The majority of the improvements proposed in the energy retrofit are themselves deferred maintenance. Not only would the energy retrofit aggressively deal with deferred maintenance costs, but it would do so in a manner that pays for itself.
The energy retrofit has the potential to greatly improve the University’s image and the attractiveness of our environmental science and engineering programs. Many businesses, households, institutions and governments are struggling to balance their environmental responsibilities with long term economic stability. By demonstrating and publicizing an initiative that will dramatically improve both areas, we will be seen as a fiscal and environmental leader amongst Ontario universities. The retrofit also carries a large educational potential. There is a growing field of employment in the area of energy conservation being spurred by both the provincial and federal government’s commitments to reduce energy use. The retrofit can be used as an opportunity to expose and educate environmental
science and engineering students to energy efficient technologies and their potential for saving money, giving them invaluable skills in the job market.
The energy retrofit is not only something that would benefit the University as an institution but it is also something that is strongly supported by the student body. In the 2004 CSA general elections, the student population was asked whether or not they would support a campus-wide energy retrofit. The results showed that over 92% of the student population supported the retrofit. Additionally, 86% wanted the eventual energy savings to be spent on supply side energy cost saving measures such as investments in renewable forms of power generation.
I look forward to hearing your position on this issue, and strongly encourage you to support the full retrofit of the University of Guelph campus.
Sincerely,