Plug Smart has developed a number of CHP projects and can bring significant cost savings to your campus, district or commercial facility with our expert engineering and project development team. Call us to see how CHP could be put to work for your facility!

To learn more about CHP, check out the “Combined Heat and Power Playbook” from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). This document is designed for municipal and local governments interested in developing innovative solutions to their local energy challenges. It will help them understand how CHP can benefit their communities and how to implement CHP systems.

Access the ACEEE Combined Heat and Power Playbook here: http://www.plugsmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ie1404.pdf

Ever since 2012, Plug Smart has remained on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Qualified List of Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) for providing exceptional energy services performance contracting and financing. This status is of course reflective of our positive standing in the industry, but you may be wondering: Just what is ESCO financing?

To answer that question, DOE published this handout which explains how ESCOs often go beyond their role as technical provider to become part financial provider. Although companies vary in how they structure deals, generally, an ESCO will often execute energy-saving projects in exchange for long-term service fees in lieu of upfront payment. This helps the client not only greenlight projects that would otherwise be out of reach, but also grow their confidence in their ESCO, given that projected savings must be guaranteed in order for the company to profit.

Check out the summary here: ESCO Financing Summary

Hospitals in the U.S. use about twice as much energy as comparably-sized office buildings, and twice as much as comparable European hospitals. This energy intensity is now a target for reduction because it is both a cost concern and an environmental one. Healthcare is notorious these days for rising costs, and what better way to trim operating costs than to trim your energy consumption? By doing so, say organizations like Health Care Without Harm (www.noharm.org), hospitals also become public health advocates, lessening their contributions to the environmental emissions that cause disease.

The trend is visible in Boston, whose hospitals have cut overall energy use by 6% in the last three years, even while expanding their real estate footprint. The savings realized allow facilities to better allocate resources to customer care, lowering costs, and of course investing in more efficiency!

Plug Smart has seen a tremendous increase in focus on energy efficiency from our healthcare clients over the last 24 months. The changing landscape in healthcare has everyone re-evaluating their buildings and processes for ways to allocate more money for patient care. Plug Smart has worked with multiple major healthcare systems to integrate energy efficiency into facility master plans and implement cash flow positive projects.

Also recently, major healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente (www.kaiserpermanente.org) made an announcement that it was committing to clean energy by purchasing enough renewable energy to provide half of the electricity its California facilities use. As a step toward the company’s ambitious national sustainable energy policy, Kaiser Permanente signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the power produced by 153 MW of off-site wind and solar generation, and another 70 MW of solar on-site. Given that fossil fuels are still the primary source of electricity in the U.S., such commitments can make quite a difference, as can the complete offset of the electrical demand through efficiency services.

“Climate change isn’t a distant threat,” says Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser Permanente’s environmental stewardship officer. “The health impacts of a changing climate can be felt today in the form of increasing rates of asthma and other respiratory ailments, spread of infectious diseases, heat stress and injuries from severe weather events. By addressing climate change for the future, we are improving the health of communities today.”

Kaiser Permanente Sustainable Energy Infographic

–See more at:

http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2015_4_1_kaiser_permanente_buys_153_mw_of_wind_and_solar_power

http://share.kaiserpermanente.org/article/kaiser-permanente-makes-major-wind-and-solar-energy-purchases/#sthash.CMcxCXWT.dpuf

https://noharm-uscanada.org/articles/press-release/us-canada/boston-hospitals-cut-energy-use-6-despite-continued-facility-growth

1. Commissioning – the process of ensuring that systems are designed, installed, functionally tested, and capable of being operated and maintained per the owner’s specific needs

2. Retrocommissioning – the same process as commissioning, but applied to existing buildings that have never been commissioned

3. Recommissioning – the process of applying the commissioning process to a building that was previously commissioned; typically completed every three to five years to maintain peak system performance

4. Ongoing Commissioning – the process of installing monitoring equipment to allow for ongoing diagnostics; effective when a building staff or vendor gathers and analyzes the data to develop ongoing improvements

Due to deferred maintenance and the attractive payback periods provided, retrocommissioning has become a very popular energy conservation measure. This process can reduce operating costs by lowering energy demand and overall consumption, as well as time spent responding to comfort complaints. Retrocommissioning can also extend the life of equipment and improve occupant satisfaction by improving overall comfort and indoor air quality.

Commissioning projects have been shown to reduce energy costs 10-20%, with simple paybacks ranging from ½ to 5 years, depending on the facility’s use and the condition of the existing equipment. If you are interested in discussing a commissioning project for your facility, give Plug Smart a call at (800) 518-5576.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Study:
224 buildings in 21 states including 30M sq ft space. 73% older/27% new construction

As many of you know, lawmakers voted last year to freeze the State of Ohio’s energy standards for two years. This of course has had a ripple effect on many HB 264 and HB 153 projects as we continue to see utility incentive programs from AEP, First Energy, Duke, and DP&L get watered down or eliminated for various HVAC, lighting, and controls projects.

For more information on this important issue, Columbus Business First recently published the article “Making the Business Case for Ohio Energy Standards.” In this article, see what other companies like Kroger, Timken, Honda, White Castle, Owens Corning, Campbell Soup Co, and Whirlpool are thinking regarding this much heated debate as well as a few quotes from Plug Smart President, Dave Zehala, regarding how these policies might be complicating the energy project and capital improvement planning process.

Full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2015/02/27/making-the-business-case-for-ohio-energy-standards.html

Historic Preservation through Energy Efficiency!

The possibilities for what energy efficiency can do are endless.  It seems every day I learn about another powerful example of a building that was saved thanks to energy efficiency. The DOE has a tremendous case study (provided in the link below) concerning how the GSA used energy efficiency improvements side by side with historic preservation renovations to save a tremendous building and position it for the next 100 years of use. While we have not yet been involved with a historic preservation project we have countless clients that have used energy efficiency to upgrade older and architecturally contributing buildings. The projects simply make too much sense. When solving the multitude of challenges that historic buildings face, using energy efficiency improvements as a way to control life cycle costs is crucial. The case study walks through the design and construction process both highlighting how a design build model works well to solve challenges on the fly that these projects often have. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it!

Department of Energy Case Study: http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/10/f19/aspinall_courthouse.pdf

This year’s Super Bowl was one for the record books! From Tom Brady’s 37 completed passes and 328 yards to the most Touchdowns of any QB in Super Bowl History. It was also the first time you would see Seattle throw the ball instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch within a yard away from the Goal…..

However, the game was also one that was big for Efficiency. That’s because the University of Phoenix is the first Super Bowl host to light its stadium entirely with LEDs, cutting their energy usage by at least 75%.

The switch to LED system only uses about 310,000 watts of energy compared to the past system which used 1.24 million watts. Ephesus Lighting also claim that the lights eliminate shadows on the field helping the game videographers capture a sharper image for more in depth replays.

With all of the benefits, it’s not hard to see why the University of Phoenix would want to set the standard for the Super Bowl this year. As the NFL looks into going green in the future, I guarantee there will be other stadiums that look into similar LED systems.

Check out the Full Article as well as an interesting Case Study by Ephesus Lighting at the below links

Full article:

The first Super Bowl lit with LED lights will cut energy use by 75% | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

University of Phoenix Case Study:

http://ephesuslighting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ephesus-Case-Study-University-of-Phoenix4.pdf

Fear not, thanks to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. This important regulating body has created a very handy, apples to apples comparison tool for energy supply contracting. This tool lets residents, small commercial, and large industrial customers compare pricing and terms from multiple fixed offer alternative suppliers.

Though this tool has its limits (and won’t keep alternative suppliers from calling you) it will give you a third party perspective on the commodity energy market. It also is a very helpful even if you are conducting a custom supply negotiation, as it gives you the opportunity to have a benchmark price and terms to negotiate from.

If you’d like to learn more about this tool click the link and try for yourself. It can be found here http://energychoice.ohio.gov/.

The Ripple Effect of Energy Savings!!

Here at Plug Smart, we’re experts at improving the energy efficiency of schools, businesses, and manufacturers. We know the ins and outs of energy-using systems, and all the best ways to get better performance using less energy. Most of the time, the energy savings pay for themselves. Spend $1,000 (or $100,000) up front, and the money you don’t spend on utilities every month will make it pay back in a few years or less. (This can be even more attractive with the many financing options available, but that is the subject of another blog post).

However, when you upgrade or re-commission your HVAC, lighting, or industrial processes, you start to see many other benefits. New LED lighting lasts much longer, so you spend less time replacing bulbs. A new air handler with state-of-the-art controls will provide not just more efficient heating and cooling, but better quality space conditioning. That new lighting system may also provide a higher quality light. Greater comfort control and better lighting tends to improve productivity, so employees or students can work or study more effectively.

At Plug Smart we aim to quantify all the benefits you are likely to see when undertaking and efficiency upgrade, especially in the area of operations and maintenance (O&M) reductions. But some non-energy benefits are harder to quantify. Thankfully, leading energy experts at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a leading think-tank on energy efficiency, recently released a report that aims to gather what we know about non-energy benefits in one place.

The report, “Multiple Benefits of Business-Sector Energy Efficiency: A Survey of Existing and Potential Measures,” while noting that much more work needs to be done to fully understand and account for all these non-energy savings, including non-energy benefits can cut the payback in half. More info can be found on ACEEE’s blog, which links to the free report. (http://aceee.org/blog/2015/01/how-energy-efficiency-investment-crea)

The lesson here is clear – even if you don’t think energy is important, focusing on energy efficiency can bring a number of other benefits to your organization (not to mention your regional economy and environment). So if you want better quality, lower cost buildings and greater employee comfort and productivity, think energy efficiency. And if you’re thinking of energy efficiency, think Plug Smart.

       In 2013, Plug Smart completed an Ohio House Bill 264 project for London City Schools.  The $1M project consisted of lighting retrofits, building automation, and chiller upgrades.  The project is currently delivering more than the projected energy savings. With this success the District has made the wise decision to stay aggressive in their efforts to continue to reduce ongoing energy costs.

In addition to the energy project, London City Schools has implemented an Energy Services Agreement to provide utility analysis and bench marking, remote monitoring, and control system maintenance. This important step allows the district to constantly understand their energy usage and catch any problems early. These ongoing services have delivered an additional $53,000 in energy savings in 2014.

As part of the Energy Services Agreement Plug Smart has been London City School constant advocate. Plug Smart was able to negotiate with the gas supplier on behalf of London City Schools, saving them an additional $7,000.  Plug Smart’s remote monitoring service fixed nearly 700 system overrides reducing the waste and providing another $38,000 in energy savings.  Plug Smart also implemented more aggressive control strategies, providing another $8,000 in energy savings.  In addition to energy savings, there are many other “soft” costs that were reduced, such as extending equipment life, reducing equipment repairs, and reducing maintenance labor costs.

Since Plug Smart’s Energy Engineers are monitoring the building’s performance on a weekly basis, Plug Smart has truly become a partner with London City Schools.  Plug Smart continues to provide training to the maintenance staff, while continuing to look for additional ways to help reduce operating costs, just like a partner should.

Please contact us at energysavings@plugsmart.com to find out more information on how Plug Smart can help your organization relentlessly pursue savings!!

The Energy dashboard below is part of the system created to help London City Staff easily visualize and interpret their energy usage