Georgetown University is ranked among the top universities in the United States. Founded in 1789 and located in the historic Georgetown district of Washington DC, the Catholic and Jesuit university covers more than 40 hectares and houses about 60 main buildings. It has 19,000 students and 6,200 employees, including 2,200 faculty. Its campus also includes the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
On 1 July 2021, Georgetown University and Georgetown Energy Partners entered into a long-term comprehensive energy management agreement to update the university's approach to utility infrastructure investment and operations – with a focus on sustainability and energy conservation. The partnership will strengthen the university's utility infrastructure while improving its energy efficiency. One key performance objective includes efficiency gains that will enable the university to reduce energy consumption by at least 35% by 2030.
ENGIE's solution: cleaner, more adaptable technologies and processes to target a 35% reduction in energy consumption
How? Through the implementation of an energy efficiency program and ENGIE’s operational expertise, improvements to the current campus infrastructure were quickly identified along with future investment plans for the utility network.
The partnership also aims to deploy an academic collaboration program based on ENGIE expertise in sustainable energy systems development.
The Georgetown Energy Partners group – which includes the ENGIE and Axium Infrastructure – aims to serve the interests of the wider campus community: it has a goal to enable students, faculty, and campus personnel to take part in energy-related projects. Students who are considering a career in renewable energy and related industries may, for example, work on projects alongside ENGIE experts. The partnership also intends to create opportunities to collaborate in the fields of advanced energy management, on-site renewable energy generation, and green energy policy.
"Universities are really good at educating students, but running behind-the-scenes utilities isn’t our core function. A company like ENGIE can manage our infrastructure better than we can. Energy services is their business; it’s what they do.”
Lisa Belokur, Associate Vice President of Facilities Operations, Georgetown University
"ENGIE is proud to become Georgetown University’s energy partner to achieve its sustainability goals. Innovative solutions will be developed through our collaborative program with the campus community and will help us to operate, maintain, and improve campus utility services.”
Franc Lacroix, Executive Vice President in charge of Energy Solutions activities