BY ADAM P. BARR

Staff Writer

Energy conservation efforts continue at Tech with full automation for heating, cooling and outdoor lighting.

"We instituted an energy conservation program in late 1999 when the natural gas prices rose," Bruce Ayers, director of the physical plant, said.

Recently, the University of Louisiana-Monroe started a program to conserve power usage, Chris Ringo, assistant director of the physical plant power station at ULM, said.

Ringo said only half of the buildings on the campus of ULM have automated climate and with the upgrades coming will produce lower energy costs for the university.

Ayers said Tech makes ongoing efforts to save power and make power used as efficiently as possible.

Ayers also said, since 2000, Tech has made changes, creating energy surcharges and attaching them to the student fees when it was once completely self-sufficient.

Jerry Drewett, vice-president of administrative services, said since the 1998-99 school year the cost of energy for Tech has doubled.

"It went from $4.3 million to $8.1 million, which is this year's budget," Drewett said.

According to Tech's Division of Administration's Energy Conservation Success report, Tech has cut costs by putting all the buildings on timers and making the outdoor lights more energy efficient.

"We are in the process of replacing outdoor lights throughout campus [to lights which] use less electricity," Drewett said.

Ayers said Tech's ability to control power throughout the campus is a result of a control board.

Ayers said the board can control temperatures in the buildings throughout campus to keep energy costs down.

The $6.5 million natural gas turbine generator added to campus last July made the campus virtually self-sustaining for electricity, Drewett said.

This large purchase was afforded with $2 million from the state and a loan, Drewett said.

Natural gas prices, which continue to rise, remain a concern of the administration and will stay that way, Drewett said.

"Energy fees, paid by the students of Tech, are not foreseen to go up at this time," Drewett said.

Rising natural gas prices have Tech's administration looking for ways to cut costs on energy so we will not have to raise energy surcharges, Drewett said.

"The fees tacked on to tuition make it more and more difficult to make the payment," Nathan Arthur, a junior psychology major, said.

"I was glad to hear that energy surcharges were not going up."