Lakeland Community College
IN-1: Innovation 1

Lakeland Community College’s Energy Master Plan & Performance

Lakeland seeks to earn an Innovation Credit for its Energy Conservation efforts that have taken place within the last three years.

Lakeland's energy journey began in 2006, when the college worked with Garforth International LLC to benchmark its energy performance against European best practices. Lakeland compared its energy performance against comparable institutions in Europe with similar climates to evaluate and understand those best practice energy performance benchmarks. Using that benchmark data, the College developed a comprehensive energy master plan, and in 2008, the College sought the help of global experts in energy management, Siemens Building Technologies, to implement a number of facility improvements. That performance contract was to reduce the College's energy consumption by 40 percent by June 30, 2010. Moreover, Lakeland expects to continue reducing its energy consumption by an additional 10 percent by 2014.

Lakeland Community College commits itself not only to providing affordable education to students, but also to doing its part for sustainability and energy conservation.

The cornerstone of Lakeland’s energy vision is based on the guiding principles of the European Union’s “Trias Energetica” along with the State of California’s “Energy Loading Order.” Simply, Lakeland’s vision embraces these guiding principles:

"Energy Conservation"

* Energy Efficiency - if you don’t need it, don’t use it
* Heating and Cooling Recovery – if it’s already produced, maximize its use
* Co-generation and Renewable Energy - if it’s realistic, why waste fossil fuels at an outside power plant in our efforts to go carbon free
* Team with Utilities – invest and partner where it makes sense

Lakeland has received numerous awards for this energy innovation work including an Energy Star award from the Low Carbon IT Campaign.

Lakeland recently became the first community college in Ohio to be honored with the prestigious Bellwether Award from the Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando, Florida, in the category of Planning, Governance and Finance. The Bellwether Awards were established to recognize outstanding programs that are at the forefront of innovation throughout the United States and Canada. For sixteen years the award has recognized programs or activities that improve efficiency and effectiveness in community colleges.

Lakeland’s program named: “Going Green Doesn't Have to be Sexy,” resulted in the college achieving natural gas, electricity, and water volume reductions of 46 percent, 36 percent, and 18 percent, respectively, and a 40 percent reduction in direct and indirect creation of greenhouse gases. The practical and incremental approach set the standard statewide for energy conservation among colleges and universities.