Tackling High Energy Costs from All Directions
Heating, cooling, and electricity are among the most expensive line items in a facility budget. How can customers get a handle on the energy costs at their properties? At UG2, we have built an Energy Services program to help our clients understand how they can improve their facilities while achieving significant savings and maximum efficiency.
The Challenge
A private, world-class university based in Massachusetts partnered with UG2 for comprehensive integrated facilities management. The operations team at the school was perplexed when they discovered that the energy costs for a newly constructed building were almost 50% more than originally profiled. Like so many colleges and universities, this institution has a focus on delivering the best education possible while keeping tuition costs down. Energy use was having a significant impact on the budget, and they didn’t know why.
Rob Ryan, UG2’s Associate Vice President of Operations, recognized the challenge and offered UG2’s expertise to help them understand and optimize their energy costs.
“The facility was only three years young and never achieved the energy efficiency outlined in the original developer’s model,” says Ryan. “It was using way too many therms and costs were out of control.”
UG2’s Energy Services team partnered with ICO Energy and Engineering, Inc. to conduct a full audit of all energy and engineering functions of the facility, including HVAC systems, hours of operation, occupancy, and sequence of operations. The team evaluated the facility from bottom to top, recommissioned the controls, profiled the energy usage, and reviewed all energy conservation measures (ECMs).
The Results
The team identified 25 different energy conservation measures the university could address to reduce energy usage.
The Cost
UG2 estimated the cost to implement all the necessary changes to be $65,000. Understanding that any cost to implement would be a challenge to implementation, UG2 did some research on how to defray the costs.
“We showed the local utility vendor our new model demonstrating projected energy reductions and they committed to funding the full $65,000 for the project,” says Ryan. “Therefore, the university’s out-of-pocket costs were zero.”
The Savings
UG2 estimates that the university will exceed $184,000 in savings in the first year alone. “I was delighted to be able to tell them that not only will this project not cost them a dime, but it will also deliver ongoing year-over-year savings while significantly decreasing their carbon footprint,” says Ryan.
With the success of this project, the university has now entrusted UG2 to provide a campus-wide energy scoping study that will include rebates and incentives to offset capital costs.