Cleveland Community College was recently celebrated as a “leader in the State’s Community College System as other colleges look to identify where to put limited financial resources to control utility costs,” in a letter from Reid Conway, Senior Energy Specialist for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. This letter was in reference to the Building Management System implementation completed in 2017, which has led to increase energy savings and efficiency in 2018.

In 2015, Mark Fox, Cleveland Community College’s (CCC) Director of Physical Plant, prepared a comprehensive inventory of the college’s infrastructure, including its buildings, rooms, and the mechanical systems that served them. He found that a patchwork of decades-old and inefficient HVAC systems was serving more than 300,000 square feet of space encompassed by six campus buildings. The variety of systems meant the buildings could not provide a consistently comfortable indoor environment for students and staff and were costing the college increasingly more in energy and repair costs.

With the help of a U.S. Department of Labor’s “Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training” (TAACCCT) grant, CCC was able to upgrade their infrastructure. TAACCT grants are awarded to community colleges to help them develop or redesign programs that align with local and regional businesses so students can obtain industry-recognized credentials that lead to good local jobs. CCC was awarded a TAACCCT grant to develop a Mission Critical Operations career pathway. One component of the program would be to allow students hands-on experience with state-of-the-art, multifaceted HVAC systems. The project would include installation of an integrated HVAC control system throughout the campus and a “living lab” that would provide students the opportunity to operate, monitor, and adjust the campus system in real-time.

Brady, a building solutions provider headquartered in Greensboro, was awarded the project and went to work designing and installing the new HVAC and controls systems, as well as addressing operational issues and creating the new “living lab.” With Brady’s experience and expertise, CCC now enjoys the benefits of their custom-designed systems: consistently comfortable environments for students and staff, a hands-on, real-time learning environment for Mission Critical, Building Automation, and HVAC students, as well as energy efficient operations. According to the Annual Energy Consumption Report, CCC has reduced its energy consumption by an impressive 22 percent in two years and is now 10 percent more efficient than the community college average, saving the college more than $60,000 last fiscal year.

Mr. Conway’s letter concludes by applauding the work of Cleveland Community College and their foresight in designing the curriculum and living lab around energy conservation, helping to “grow the next group of technicians on the most cutting edge systems.”

About Brady: Brady is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina with locations in Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, and Wilmington. Founded in 1962 by Chairman Don Brady, the company remains a family owned enterprise, today employing over 420 associates. The company works with building owners, facility managers, developers, architects, engineers and contractors providing sustainable, comprehensive building solutions for commercial and industrial facilities. Brady provides customers with a diverse range of HVAC and building solutions including building automation, energy conservation, green design, performance contracts, access controls, security, mechanical systems, parts and supplies, as well as world-class technical support. Brady is an authorized Trane franchise. For more information, visit www.bradyservices.com or call (800) 849-1915.

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