Columbia Recognized for its Commitments to Energy Efficiency Over the Last Decade

PhotoColumbia College Chicago's Facilities and Planning Management Department Receiving an Energy Efficiency Award from Peoples Gas
Columbia's Ann Kalayil with Peoples Gas RepAssociate Vice President of Facilities and Planning Management Ann Kalayil standing with Jarred Nordhus, Principal Customer Program Manager, Energy Efficiency Programs Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas
The Peoples Gas Energy Efficiency Program has helped Columbia College Chicago with its energy savings for its South Loop campus since 2013.

Columbia’s Facilities and Planning Management team was recently recognized for its outstanding commitment to sustainability and energy efficiency across Columbia’s 16 South Loop campus buildings. Representatives from Peoples Gas, the natural gas delivery company for the city of Chicago, visited Columbia to present the team with an energy excellence award.

Columbia's longstanding partnership with Peoples Gas has generated more than $280,000 in incentives, helping advance campus sustainability projects such as boiler tune-ups, steam trap testing, and pipe insulation.

Ann P. Kalayil, who is the associate vice president of facilities planning and management at Columbia, has spearheaded the Green Buildings Program for the college since its inception in 2019.

“Aside from being stewards of the 16 buildings on campus, I think the most important thing is that we are able to move the needle to reduce our carbon footprint,” says Kalayil.

Columbia’s Green Buildings Program is committed to reducing the college’s environmental footprint by following the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework to holistically address climate change. The Green Buildings Program framework is incorporated into the full lifecycle of facilities, from design and construction through operations and demolition.

Since the start of Columbia's partnership with Peoples Gas, the college has saved 414,700 therms of natural gas— each therm is equal to 100 cubic feet. According to Peoples Gas, that’s the equivalent of preventing 2,194 metric tons of CO₂ emissions from entering the atmosphere.

“I really commend our team. This award is an example of the fact that each person has played an important role here,” says Kalayil.

“Whether you're in engineering, maintenance, support services, planning capital construction, or in administrative finance ... each one of us here has a role in having achieved this goal of maintaining a sustainable campus environment. So, this recognition is really for all of you.”

Columbia has previously been recognized by Peoples Gas with its Commitment to Efficiency award at its annual Energy Forum event. In addition to working with Peoples Gas, Columbia also works with ComEd on efficiency programs to save energy with lighting and other electicial uses across campus. Watch the full ComEd case study video to see how the Energy Efficiency Program has helped Columbia with its rigirous sustainabilty goals.

 

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