Thanks in part to a mild winter in the Twin Cities, St. Thomas is saving a large amount of money due to reduced snow plowing and heating needs.  

Associate Vice President for Facilities Jerry Anderley said the money will be used for things that the university normally can’t afford, such as landscaping and repairing sidewalks.

“If we don’t spend it, it just goes back into the general budget; the general fund for the institution,” he said.

Anderley said that on the St. Paul campus, snow removal costs $750 per inch, and on the Minneapolis campus it costs $2,000 per inch. The Minneapolis snow removal budget is about $90,000, and so far only $18,000 has been spent.

Anderley said the university is estimating a snow removal savings on both campuses of about $50,000 each.

Snow removal in Minneapolis is more expensive than St. Paul because the Minneapolis campus is required to hire an outside vendor, he said.

St. Thomas also budgeted $1.4 million for natural gas or heating this year. At this point, Anderley said the university has spent only about $400,000 of its budget, leaving roughly$980,000. Still, Anderley pointed out that the January, February, March and April natural gas bills have yet to be paid, so he is estimating a total savings of about $400,000.

The university will also save on energy costs by not using fuel oil this winter. Fuel oil is required if temperatures drop significantly because oil has more BTUs (British Thermal Units) in it than natural gas. This year, St. Thomas has a $192,000 fuel oil budget, and none of it has been spent so far.

While the mild winter is partially responsible for the low energy costs, Anderley also credits recent university efforts.

“Some of (the cost savings) also has to do with the retrofits that we put in to try to be more energy efficient. We’re trying to be more sustainable,” he said.

Some of the on-campus efforts include more energy-efficient boilers, LED lights in constantly lit parking ramps, and in the new student center, that Anderley suspects will increase energy costs by 15 to 20 percent despite the energy efficient awards it is predicted to receive.

“Silver is pretty much guaranteed to us, maybe a gold certified, which means we have taken every conceivable step forward to make it as sustainable as possible,” Anderley said.

Even the Christmas season has seen some energy-efficient changes. In 2007, about 30,000 Christmas lights on campus were replaced with LED bulbs, saving the university more than $5,000.

“Trying to save in utility costs is difficult because they never go down. The only way we can save is to become more energy efficient and smarter with the use of the energy that we have,” Anderley said.

Meghan Sheldon can be reached at shel9069@stthomas.edu.