Higher Education

Replace aging equipment and improve efficiency without impacting your CapEx budget or adding debt.

Places of higher learning are held to a higher standard when it comes to environmental responsibility and the quality and comfort of their buildings. And yet while colleges and universities are rich in human capital, financial capital is often in short supply. Spending must prioritize the institution’s educational mission and ways to gain advantage in a competitive marketplace—a new science center, for example, or more student aid.

Make the grade with Energy as a Service.

Metrus Energy can help you achieve your goals through our Energy as a Service (EaaS) solution. EaaS is a turnkey solution with zero upfront cost that allows you to improve your buildings’ efficiency quickly and affordably. You get all the benefits of upgrade­d equipment—without the headaches of ownership.

The benefits of Energy as a Service:

• You pay nothing upfront
  Energy as a Service is an off-balance-sheet solution that preserves your CapEx budget for other needs. We pay 100% of the project cost.
• We manage the retrofit from beginning to end
  Metrus partners with best-in-class energy service companies to install your new equipment, so project implementation is fast and painless.
• You enjoy the benefits—without the burden of ownership
  We install state-of-the-art equipment to make your campus more resilient, efficient, and comfortable. And because we provide maintenance and monitor performance over the life of the partnership, you’re assured of maximum savings and operational reliability.

How energy savings fund your upgrades—and more.

Metrus conducts a free energy audit to identify the energy savings that lie untapped within your campus environment, and we use those savings to fund your wish list of equipment upgrades. The energy savings that result from the efficiency upgrade cover our service fee and reduce your operating costs. When your contract with Metrus is complete—our Sustainable Energy Services Agreement (SESA) typically runs 10-15 years—all savings stay with you.

The savings yielded by different measures—e.g., installing LED lighting or building automation systems—can be bundled to expand the scope of your retrofit. Many colleges and universities use bundling in order to afford a new boiler or chiller, for example—critical investments that may have been delayed due to their cost, but that the Metrus SESA makes possible.

Put your sustainability goals on an accelerated track.

By eliminating CapEx barriers and streamlining project implementation, Metrus can jump start your decarbonization initiatives. Bundling different types of improvements into one project allows you to think bigger and move more quickly toward meeting your sustainability goals.

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Extra credit: Metrus can also add on-site solar power generation to your contract to get you to net zero even faster.

No upfront cost—and budgetary savings from day one.

Our Sustainable Energy Services Agreement (SESA) bundles all the equipment, technologies, maintenance, and monitoring you need into one flexible contract, with no upfront cost, preserving your debt capacity and CapEx budget for other priorities. The improvements we install generate budgetary savings from day one.

Metrus is the perfect energy partner for higher education.

Metrus’ Energy as a Service solution is ideal for colleges and universities that lack the capital to address the deferred maintenance of critical energy infrastructure and undertake the improvements needed to meet ambitious sustainability targets. These improvements often include:

• Lighting: Lights are responsible for approximately 25-30% of a commercial building’s energy consumption. Replacing inefficient bulbs with LEDs, upgrading lighting fixtures, and installing motion-controlled lighting and daylight sensors can greatly reduce energy consumption.‍
• HVAC: Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems consume nearly one-third of a building’s energy. Investing in HVAC upgrades improves system efficiency and reliability, reduces energy use, emissions, and maintenance.‍
• On-site solar power: Campuses consist of buildings and land—ideal real estate for installing solar panels that can be used to offset utility costs and potentially create revenue.‍
• Building envelope improvements: A building’s walls, windows, foundation, and roof play a key role in determining how comfortable a building is and how much energy is required to heat and cool it.‍
• Smart infrastructure: Building management systems monitor energy Innovations that improve sustainability and operational efficiency and reduce costs through the use of IoT technologies and digitization.‍
• Building management systems (BMS): These systems use advanced technologies to monitor and control energy-intensive systems within a building to improve efficiency and occupant comfort.
• ‍Ground source heat pumps: These systems can cut energy bills by up to 65% (depending on the type of system they replace) and have a lifespan of 50+ years.‍
• Variable refrigerant flow and advanced heat recovery, which integrate campus energy systems to use less energy for heating and cooling.