In order to save money and become more energy-efficient, Truman State is spending a total of $10.5 million to update almost every building on campus.
These renovations include updates to lighting, water efficiency and the science lab hoods. The renovations began at the end of May and are projected to finish next August.
Dave Rector, Vice President for Administration, Finance and Planning, says the majority of the funding for the project is coming from a loan. After a competitive bidding process, he said Truman borrowed $10 million from Bank of America, with an interest rate of 1.96 percent.
Rector says Energy Solutions Professionals, the company working with Truman to complete these updates, guarantees the energy savings will allow Truman to pay off the loan. He says ESP and Truman have an agreement that if Truman is not able to pay off the loan from the money saved, ESP will pay the difference. This gives ESP an incentive to make sure the updates are installed properly and used correctly, Rector says.
Rector says the savings will be two-fold. He says the University will save money and conserve resources, which helps the environment. He says the savings are particularly important because of the limited government funding Truman receives.
“When I can save money, I want to save money for the University. Our goal was to save money and make everything more efficient.”
-David Rector, Vice President for Administration, Finance and Planning
While updates will be made to residence halls and other campus buildings, the updates primarily will take place in McClain, Violette and Magruder Halls and Pickler Memorial Library.
Rector says while there were some project delays during the summer, they expect to complete the project on schedule. He says the heavy rainfall this summer slowed updates to the steam system, meaning there was a large hole in the ground outside of Missouri Hall at the beginning of the school year.
For more information on the future projects and what to expect read more on Issuu.