How Weber State University Turned Energy Savings into a Self-Funding Decarbonization Program

Justin Owen, Interim Director of Plant Operations at Weber State University, walked through how a public university built a long-term energy program that CFOs actually trust. The session focused on closing the gap between technical energy work and financial credibility—especially how to document savings in a way that survives scrutiny from finance and administration. J

ustin shared how Weber State evolved from a traditional steam-based campus to one that’s now 57% electrified, using ground-source heat pumps, VRF, solar, and storage across roughly 3 million square feet. The talk anchored on real buildings, real budgets, and the tradeoffs that come with running a multi-decade program inside a public institution.

Behind the paywall, Justin gets into the uncomfortable parts most case studies skip: why Weber State refuses to weather-normalize savings, how savings are moved out of the utility account and reinvested, and where electrification actually reduced total energy use instead of increasing it. You’ll hear concrete numbers—millions in annual savings, EUI dropping from ~140 to ~23 in a flagship building, and how a revolving loan structure kept projects compounding year after year.

He also breaks down what didn’t work early on, how project selection can stall a program for years, and why credibility with finance mattered more than engineering purity. If you’re trying to build an energy program that survives leadership changes and keeps funding itself, this recording is required viewing.

Watch the full recording inside Nexus Pro →