Merced College efforts to conserve paying off

Merced College is starting to see a return on its investment in an energy conservation project.

The college initiated the project in 2011, and it recently received its first rebate of $85,158 from the Merced Irrigation District, according to a news release.

The district provides electricity, and this specific rebate represents the savings from the upgrade to the campus' interior and exterior lighting, according to the release.

The lighting project involved retrofitting more than 7,000 light fixtures and is expected to reduce the college's energy usage by 1.2 million kilowatt-hours per year, the release says. That would represent annual savings of about $137,000.

"We expect to save more than $180,000 annually as a result of improvements to our campus lighting, trash management, heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacement and other major upgrades around the campus," Merced College Facilities Director Rick Souhrada said in the release.

Merced College began its energy conservation project in partnership with Honeywell Energy Solutions, according to the release.