Gorell Windows & Doors wanted prospective customers to see just how much they could save by installing the Indiana company’s energy-efficient products. Gorell has kept track of how much electricity each product saves and how many millions were sold since 1994.
Problem was, those detailed company records measured energy savings in British thermal units, a method of measurement that doesn’t mean much to the average person.
So Gorell reached out to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Surely someone there would be able to convert savings in BTUs to savings in cash. At IUP, Dr. Keith Kyler and some of his chemistry students came up with mathematical formulas showing how much money Gorell products have saved their owners over time.
“It’s just really nice to have a university like IUP right next door,” company spokeswoman Melanie Thomas says.
The calculations were used to create a display on Gorell’s home page, updated in real time. As of mid-December, the totals showed a savings of more than 25 trillion BTUs, $892 billion in electricity costs and more than 222 million gallons of gas.
Source: Melanie Thomas, Gorell Enterprises
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen