SELINSGROVE -- An entire campus recently made the switch from coal heat to natural gas. Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove is saving money and energy.
Students at Susquehanna University walk to class wearing sweatshirts and jackets because of the chilly weather. Lucky for them there is plenty of heat inside the buildings. The university recently made the switch from coal to natural gas.
"The best option for us was going from a centralized plant to a decentralized plant. Basically, taking the boiler plant, splitting it up and putting it into each individual building, and going with gas as opposed to coal," explained Christopher Bailey, the director of facilities management at Susquehanna University.
Bailey says university officials knew they needed to get rid of coal heat because of new environmental regulations and the age of the plant. Bailey showed Newswatch 16 one of the new boiler rooms and says the natural gas is running very efficiently.
"Overall we probably reduced our carbon output for heating about 70 to 80 percent from what we were previously discharging."
Susquehanna University is also installing LED lights throughout the campus to save energy.
"In a number of our buildings, we've already retrofitted with LED lighting," said Bailey. "We did all of the exterior post lights you see are now LED. Our next big conversion is going to be our parking lot lights over to LED lights."
Bailey says now that Susquehanna University is better able to control the heat in its buildings, the university has seen significant savings with energy and money.