Three Rivers Community College Receives $95,018 Rebate for Energy Efficient Lighting Upgrade

Norwich, CT – After a multi-year process, Three Rivers has completed an LED lighting upgrade throughout the campus and was awarded $95,018 by Norwich Public Utilities (NPU) through their Lighting Retrofit Program. Chris LaRose, Operations Manager of Norwich Public Utilities, presented the check to Mary Ellen Jukoski, President of Three Rivers Community College. 

The cost of the lighting upgrade was $271,480 and, with the NPU’s $95,018 rebate, 35% of the cost was covered. With the new energy efficient lightbulbs, Three Rivers also has a projected energy savings of $55,366 per year. This permits Three Rivers to recoup the cost of the investment within three years.
The project included replacing 8,575 lightbulbs with energy-efficient LED lightbulbs, as well as installing additional occupancy sensors throughout the campus to reduce energy use and costs. After the project installation, Three Rivers showed a net reduction in their kWh consumption and a significant reduction in their kW load with an average load reduction of 182 kW. This is the equivalent to removing 3,033 60-watt incandescent light bulbs from the NPU electric system.

President Jukoski said during the presentation, “If you walk through the building, you will see a visible difference in terms of the lighting. It is much brighter in many of the rooms, and I just want to recognize Norwich Public Utilities’ support of the College and this generosity to the College.”

On behalf of NPU, Chris LaRose stressed that “Three Rivers Community College is a valuable and critical part of the community. We are very proud to partner on this project and look forward to working in the future with staff and students at the College.”

The project began in 2016 and was managed for Three Rivers by Arnie DeLaRosa, Facilities Manager, and James Kelly, Purchasing Officer, with additional assistance provided by the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University and the State of Connecticut’s Department of Administrative Services.

Three Rivers Community College is an accessible, affordable, and culturally diverse two-year college located in Norwich, Connecticut, with an off-campus instructional center at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton. Knowing that the educational goals of its students are as diverse as their backgrounds, Three Rivers provides a broad range of credit and non-credit liberal arts, sciences, nursing, engineering, manufacturing, career and technical courses.  The student population consists of more than 4,300 enrolled students each semester. To learn more about what Three Rivers has to offer, visit www.threerivers.edu.