Wright State receives $118K in DP&L rebates

Dayton Power and Light has awarded $118,000 in rebates to Wright Sate in just the first year of the university’s energy conservation project.

Wright State potentially could receive an additional $200,000 in their inaugural year of using new lighting techniques to save energy. The rebates from DP&L have allowed WSU to upgrade all lighting on campus.

“Upgrading light fixtures everywhere on campus was phase one,” said John Howard, Wright State University energy manager. “It touched every room within the university, which has never been done before.”

Wright State will spend an estimated $11.3 million on this development with a goal of cutting the overall energy consumption by 20 percent before the year 2014. These upgrades already have saved WSU 32 percent on lighting energy alone.

“To save energy, sometimes it takes a considerable investment because you need to have greater equipment,” said Howard. “There’s always something more efficient out there.”

Bill Knotts, associate director of the WSU physical plant, said the project might not have been possible without the help of DP&L.

“Fluorescent lights at Home Depot used to run about 10 bucks and now you can get them for a dollar,” said Knotts. “That was part of the rebate from Dayton Power & Light. This project is the same thing, just on a much larger scale.”

Residential customers of DP&L also can profit from the company’s incentive programs including free refrigerator recycling, rebates on new heat pumps and air conditioners, and discounts on energy-efficient light bulbs. Ohio’s goal for energy efficiency is to reduce electricity consumption by 22 percent by the end of 2025.

In addition to the money gained from the rebates, Wright State also will benefit from an estimated annual energy savings of $45,000.

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