Fresno State earns $75,000 rebate from electric company

By Joshua D. Scroggin

The Save Mart Center isn’t just saving mart—it’s saving energy, too.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company awarded Fresno State with a $75,000 rebate Friday for the energy-efficient construction and design of, the 16,000-seat on-campus arena that opened in November.

The rebate was given as a part of PG&E’s Savings by Design program and is paid for through a small percentage taken from consumers’ PG&E bills put into a pot for energy saving programs.

Awards from the program are determined on a case-by-case basis, PG&E Project Manager Tom Hall said. Seventy-five thousand dollars was the maximum amount the university could have been awarded.

“ It’s all based on the calculated savings per year,” Hall said.

Due to its energy-conscious design, projected annual savings on electricity for the arena fall somewhere near $285,000—a 10 percent reduction in kilowatts—but it’s too early to tell if the projection is a reality, another

PG&E official said.

“ With a building like this, it’s going to take a while to shake it down and commission it and get all the systems operating efficiently,” PG&E senior account manager and Fresno State engineering graduate Don Kantz said. “I wouldn’t expect to see the results for a little while until they’ve gone through some events and got their plans all figured out.”

The direct savings is determined by the efficiency at which the building is being run, but Kantz said even if the arena is being run in its inefficient mode, it would still be saving more energy than if it were not designed with this program in mind.

Hall said the Save Mart Center’s primary items designed to save energy were the lighting and air conditioning systems.

“ There were some advanced designs on the motors and the controls of the motors,” Hall said.

Kantz cited the arena’s sunken floor as a part of its energy efficiency. Much of the arena’s 400,000 square feet are below ground level.

“ We have a very good energy efficient foundation for this facility,” Kantz said. “Fresno State is one of our most active participants in our programs. The university is probably one of the more aggressive, more efficient and also looks at those technologies that could give them a lot of value in energy efficiency.”

University President John Welty said he is already anticipating PG&E program rebates for the new science building currently under construction between the San Ramon buildings and the crime lab and for the library expansion recently approved with the passage of Proposition 55.

Since 1990, Fresno State has received more than $821,000 in PG&E rebates, and Welty said he expects that total to be more than $1 million upon completion of the library.

PG&E Senior Vice President and Chief for Utility Operations Tom King said the $75,000 was the top rebate PG&E has given Fresno State, and Welty said what he’s expecting the next two rebates to even larger.

“ That’s why I mentioned we’ll be able to go over a million with this program as we complete the library,” Welty said. “I think [the library] is a major, major opportunity for us to design very effectively.”

King talked about the importance of energy conservation in the stringent state budget situation.

“ [Energy conservation] has a direct impact whether it’s the state’s, the facility’s or the university’s bottom line annual expense,” King said.