Energy Solutions don’t just help the environment; they are great investments. Often Energy Solutions can be designed and implemented with no money out of pocket to the building owner/operator – cash flow positive from day one. It sounds too good to be true, but it’s not; Here is a case study where IBEW/NECA helped the Universal Hilton save over $800,000 per year across multiple building systems with no out-of-pocket investment.
Like it did with the Hilton, IBEW/NECA possesses expertise and resources to assist building owners/managers through each step of the sustainable energy process, including:
ENERGY AUDITS:
The first step in Energy investment is to identify energy saving opportunities across multiple building systems. Energy efficiency typically represents the best return on investment for building owners and managers. Once a building is efficient, technologies like solar, wind and energy storage can be properly sized for an efficient building. The California Energy Commission recommends an energy loading order that lists energy efficiency and demand response as the first steps, followed by renewable resources, and lastly clean and efficient natural gas-fired power plants third.
Building owners/managers are regularly approached by solar, LED lighting and other companies advocating a one-size-fits-all solution and financing. Without assessing the entire building it is difficult layer energy savings technologies and maximize saving.
Understanding the optimal opportunities within a building is usually achieved through some type of energy audit or screening. Rather than building owners/managers paying an engineering firm tens of thousands of dollars for a typical audit, many engage IBEW/NECA for this. IBEW/NECA will very often conduct a no-cost preliminary energy audit after a thorough discussion with a building owner/operator and a review of the building’s utility bills. This audit/screening process entails a professional walking a building with a facilities manager and identifying energy savings triggers across seven major building systems:
- Lighting
- Windows & Building Envelope
- Motors
- Chiller Systems
- Air Handling
- Parking Ventilation
This analysis typically results in a high level report of sustainable energy opportunities. This report provides building owners/managers with a very good indication of savings opportunities.
Once the savings opportunities are identified, the IBEW/NECA professional will look at a host of variables such as utility demand chargers, building and parking footprint, local weather patterns, sun exposure, etc. to identify the economic benefit of additional technologies such as solar, storage or wind.
SOLUTION DESIGN:
After identifying energy savings opportunities, the next step is to design savings solutions/measures. IBEW/NECA not only follows the loading order but a holistic approach of identifying/designing solutions for the entire building. Looking beyond electrical solutions, IBEW/NECA partners with other companies, such as mechanical and roofing contractors, storage solutions providers, window film companies, etc., to design solutions that maximize savings.
Moreover, unlike lighting and solar companies and energy services companies (ESCOs), IBEW/NECA is not aligned with specific products or technologies. As total solutions providers our only agenda is to help our clients save energy and money regardless of the technology or brand.
ECONOMIC MODELING/ NECA WORKS:
Once energy savings measures have been prescribed, the next step is to financially analyze these to determine if they make wise investments. IBEW/NECA has invested in the resources to provide this expertise for our clients. NECA has developed a proprietary tool, NECA WORKS, to economically model energy savings measures. Using data supplied by building owners, utility bills and the energy solutions provider, it determines a "Benefit/Cost Ratio" for projects. A benefit/cost ratio is a calculation of the project's costs, energy and other applicable factors.
As total energy solutions providers, IBEW/NECA analyze energy measures across all building systems. NECA Works is the perfect tool for this. It layers technologies allowing multiple energy measures to be evaluated collectively or independently.
REBATES & INCENTIVES:
An Important aspect of saving money and energy is taking advantage of available rebates & incentives. Monitoring the guidelines and availability of rebates & incentives can be laborious, time consuming and frustrating. Rebates & incentives are frequently changing. These are offered from a wide variety of sources: electric, gas or water utilities, cities, states, the federal government and more. These can be oversubscribed. They can require extensive paper work and follow-up. They can require the adoption of specific eligible technologies or contractor certifications. In short, maximizing rebates and incentives requires expertise. IBEW/NECA invests in resources to monitor all available rebates and incentives, regularly communicate with rebate/incentive providers, and to stay current on eligibility guidelines. When a building owner/manager works with an IBEW/NECA solutions provider they can be assured they will take advantage of eligible rebates and incentives and maximizing their return.
FINANCING:
Perhaps the most important recent development in sustainable energy is the large growth of investors providing financing. This has made energy saving practical and widely available. Financing not only exists for just about all types of energy savings measures, but there are multiple sources of available financing: PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy), leases, on-bill, PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements), etc. Some of these programs will cover 100% of energy savings measures including any up-front costs. Thanks to financing flexibility, with little or no money out of pocket building owners/operators can often implement measures and save money from the first month.
However, choosing the right financing can depend not only on interest rates, but factors such as:
- Tax implications and tax incentives/credits.
- The expected life of the energy savings measure.
- The size and term of the loan.
- Implications to the building owner’s balance sheet and credit profile.
- Availability of programs like on-bill financing.
- And on and on.
Choosing the optimal financing requires expertise. IBEW/NECA has made a significant investment to develop this expertise, including:
- Retaining a full-time loan consultant who guides building owners/operators through this process.
- Developing a platform called NECA ECAP, which offers standardized, on-line underwriting and documentation collection.
- Investing pension money to fund PACE loans with streamlined underwriting guidelines
IBEW/NECA knows financing is a vital component of the energy solutions process. It works with building owners/managers to provide financing options and flexibility.
MEASUREMENT AND VERIFICATION:
After sustainable energy measures have been installed, optimization of their performance and savings requires measurement and verification (M&V). M&V is the process by which achieved energy savings is quantified. This involves measuring and verifying energy use before and after the energy savings measures and adjusting for any changes in conditions.
M&V provides benefits such as:
- Quantified energy savings of energy measures.
- Validation of past projects.
- Guidance as to when measures need to be recalibrated of commissioned.
- Transparency. Are investments delivering as promised?
- Improved decision making for future investments.
- Predictability - M&V allows you to easily adjust to changing facility operating conditions in order to set proper budgets and account for budget variances.
