NYSERDA Press Releases

For Release: August 5, 2003
CONTACT: NYSERDA Peter Sigurdson (716) 842-1522 ext. 3006
Chautauqua Inst. Michael Sullivan (716) 357-6230

NYSERDA Provides Chautauqua Institution
$352,000 for Combined Heat and Power Project
Institution also receives Energy Target Zone designation

Chautauqua, NY - The historic Chautauqua Institution recently partnered with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on several important energy-saving initiatives. The Institution will receive $352,000 to implement a combined heat and power (CHP) - district energy project that will help power its century-old campus. The Institution also elected to become an Energy Target Zone, a designation that provides enhanced energy-efficiency services and training for its campus, private residences, and local community.

"This is a tremendous partnership between the Chautauqua Institution and NYSERDA. By choosing to invest in a combined heat and power-district heating project, the Institution will benefit from more reliable power and an annual savings of more than $100,000," NYSERDA Acting President Peter R. Smith said. "In addition, the designation as an Energy Target Zone means NYSERDA will provide enhanced resources and training to the Institution and its staff to help perpetuate and build upon its energy-efficiency goals."

Chautauqua Institution President Scott McVay said, "One of the largest issues facing any institution or business is energy - its choice, delivery, and use. We are grateful for the informed intelligence behind the NYSERDA Combined Heat and Power System and the provision of more than a third of a million dollars to install the microturbines and heating and cooling systems."

"In looking at the responsible management of this institution, both financially and environmentally, this project represents a critical step in our overall master plan, and it will become an exemplary operation in the landscape," McVay added.

The announcement of the CHP - District Energy incentive award and the Energy Target Zone designation coincides with the lecture series entitled "Energy: Environment and Economy" sponsored at the Chautauqua Institution during the week of August 3 -9.

The description of the lecture series is: Existence on our planet requires energy. The value of the resources needed to provide energy and its control and distribution are subjects of financial concern, environment alarm, and even war. This week is intended to bring together business, environmental, and governmental leaders to present challenges faced by nations and regions around the world regarding the need for conventional and alternative sources of energy."

In addition, NYSERDA Acting President Smith noted microturbine and other cutting edge co-generation technology has been successfully utilized in industry, schools and universities, hospitals and nursing homes, and in other buildings as a means of providing reliable and inexpensive power and useful by-products, such as exhaust heat used for the heating and cooling of water, building space, and inventory. Smith said that in the first phase of the project the Institution will install one microturbine and use high-temperature exhaust from the microturbine to heat and cool several campus buildings.

The largest program of its kind nationwide, the New York Energy $mart^SM Combined Heat and Power Program helps industrial, institutional, multifamily, and commercial customers evaluate the feasibility of on-site generation and provides funding for installation and operation of distributed generation (DG) - CHP systems; monitoring of field performance and evaluation of operational reliability of the on-site generation systems; and evaluation of environmental implications of DG technology use.

The program provides the State's electric customers with greater efficiency, and environmental and economic benefits through the use of clean and efficient DG technologies such as fuel cells or conventional technologies installed in innovative CHP applications. The Program's goal is to advance state-of-the-art technologies that offer long-term potential to improve air quality and energy efficiency.

Energy Target Zone Designation

A formal agreement was signed by NYSERDA Acting President Smith and Chautauqua Institution President McVay designating the Chautauqua Institution as an Energy Target Zone.

"The commitment by the Chautauqua Institution to become an Energy Target Zone falls squarely in line with its core mission: to help serve as a force for education and improvement in our community, and to help protect and preserve our environment and natural resources," Smith said. "NYSERDA is tremendously proud and excited to have an Energy Target Zone partner of the caliber of the Chautauqua Institution."

President McVay said, "Chautauqua Institution is committed to addressing the energy needs of our community and nation in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. We are pleased to partner with NYSERDA in this model endeavor."

Smith said the Energy Target Zone initiative falls under the New York Energy $mart^SM Communities program, an offshoot of the U.S. Department of Energy's Rebuild America program. Erie County is a co-sponsor of Western New York Energy $mart^SM Communities, covering a five-county area, and helped introduce NYSERDA's programs and the Energy Target Zone concept to the Institution.

"NYSERDA is grateful to Erie County for co-sponsoring the New York Energy $mart^SM Communities initiative and for reaching out to the Institution. NYSERDA's Buffalo Regional Office has worked well with Erie County and its Regional Coordinator," Smith said.

"Energy $mart Communities and their Target Zones focus resources to regional and local needs by bringing together organizations and agencies that contribute to model projects, such as the CHP-district heating project, which demonstrate how energy-efficiency and energy resource approaches can be used to create economic, social and environmental benefits," Smith said. "The ultimate goal is to transfer these model projects to the rest of the region. To help achieve this, New York Energy $mart^SM Communities provides information and support at the local level to individuals and organizations, such as the Institution, interested in energy efficiency and NYSERDA programs."

"I am confident that having the Chautauqua Institution as an Energy Target Zone partner will help encourage decision makers and community members to adopt energy efficiency as a regional and personal strategy," Smith said. "I would also like to commend Erie County for co-sponsoring the New York Energy $mart^SM Communities initiative and for working closely with the Institution to achieve this dynamic partnership."

The Chautauqua Institution is a not-for-profit, 783-acre educational and arts center beside Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York State, where approximately 7,500 persons are in residence on any day during a nine-week season, and a total of over 170,000 attend scheduled public events. The Institution was founded in 1874 as an educational experiment that fostered out-of-school, vacation learning.

Funding for this project came from NYSERDA's New York Energy $mart^SM program, which is designed to lower electricity costs by encouraging energy efficiency as the State's electric utilities move to competition. All New York Energy $mart^SM programs are funded by a System Benefits Charge (SBC) paid by electric distribution customers of participating utilities including Central Hudson, Con Edison, NYSEG, Niagara Mohawk, Orange and Rockland, and Rochester Gas and Electric. The programs are available to all electric distribution customers (residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial) who pay into the SBC.

NYSERDA, a public benefit corporation established by law in 1975, administers SBC funds and programs under an agreement with the Public Service Commission. Additional information about these programs can be obtained at www.nyserda.org or 1-866-NYSERDA.

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