Energy Efficiency, GHG Emissions, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 12, 2021

Curtis Institute of Music commences energy-efficient facilities improvements

The Curtis Institute of Music is kicking off a three-year project to make energy-efficiency investments in its Philadelphia facilities through an agreement with The Efficiency Network (TEN).

"Improving our facilities across the Curtis campus is a key objective in our strategic plan," Larry Bomback, senior vice president of administration at Curtis, said in a statement. "This project will dramatically improve energy performance in our Locust Street buildings and demonstrate our commitment to the greater Philadelphia community. We're proud to be able to reduce both our operating costs and our carbon footprint."

The project was supported by the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) and the Pennsylvania Sustainable Energy Finance (PennSEF) program, a partnership between Pennsylvania Treasury and the Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment.

PEA helps build a robust, equitable clean energy economy in Philadelphia through energy project and program development for City buildings, schools, housing, and commercial buildings. 

"We want to encourage non-profits to embrace the City's vision for reducing our carbon footprint and we are thrilled that Curtis has stepped forward to be one of the first local institutions to pursue this program," Alon Abramson, PEA program manager, also said in the statement.

The agreement between Curtis and TEN was developed with support from PennSEF, which uses a guaranteed savings model to ensure cost savings from lower energy bills more than cover the up-front investment.  

This project will invest a total of $650,000 in new lighting and building system controls in all Curtis buildings and will result in an annual savings of just over $35,000, reducing spending by 13% and cutting Curtis's carbon footprint by approximately 166 MTe per year.

The project is being designed and constructed by TEN, which will be using local contractors to replace the lighting and to improve the building control systems.

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