Tag Archives: Energy Efficiency

Innovative Empire State Building Program Saves Millions, Establishes New Energy Efficiency Model Nationwide

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/PRNewswire/ — The innovative energy efficiency program at the Empire State Building has exceeded guaranteed energy savings for the second year in a row, saving $2.3 million and providing a new model for building retrofits that is now being rolled…

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>”The success from the Empire State Building retrofit project further demonstrates that thoughtfully applied energy-efficiency investments can deliver unparalleled returns through a combination of lower energy, lower operating costs, and increased building valuation,” said Iain Campbell, vice president, Global Energy and WorkPlace Solutions, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency.  “When implemented under a performance contract, the energy savings are guaranteed, ensuring a no-risk investment and a smart business decision.”

The retrofit has attracted new Empire State Building tenants over the past two years, including LinkedIn, Skanska, LF USA, Coty Inc., the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Shutterstock.  These tenants sought space that reflected their sustainability values, provided more comfort for employees, and allowed them to monitor and control their energy use.

“The Empire State Building project has conclusively proven the business case for deep energy retrofits of any building,” said Raymond Quartararo, international director at Jones Lang LaSalle.  “We have consistently surpassed annual projected energy savings through a process that is very transparent, quantitatively intense and internationally approved.  The overwhelming majority of people want to do their part to reduce energy usage while delivering economic returns and occupying an environmentally responsible building.”<

See on www.sacbee.com

Better Buildings Act Brings Energy Efficiency Opportunities to Tenants

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Bipartisan Bennet-Ayotte Legislation Aimed at Boosting Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>To date, the focus has been on how real estate owners and developers may lower energy consumption at the “whole-building” level. However, office tenants like data centers, law firms, banks, trading floors, restaurants, and retail stores use a lot of energy – especially in areas experiencing large growth and development. The Better Buildings Act takes a holistic approach by considering office tenants’ impact on energy consumption and behaviors.

In addition to the “Tenant Star” designation, the bill asks the Department of Energy to study and learn from private sector “best practices” of how commercially-leased spaces are designed to achieve high performance and help reduce utility costs for businesses.

“Senators Bennet and Ayotte have championed innovative, transformative energy policy through their Better Buildings Act and its ‘Tenant Star’ provisions,” said Jeffrey D. DeBoer, President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable. “Tenants consume 50% or more of the energy used by commercial buildings, so they should be recognized for making smart choices in high-performance design and operations within leased spaces they control.  This bill is a major step forward to better align commercial landlords and tenants toward a common goal of lowering energy use in built environments across our nation.”<

See on www.bennet.senate.gov

Integrating Building into the Smart Grid

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It will take time to get from point A, today’s grid and building technologies and power markets to point B, a Smart Grid with intelligent buildings and transactive markets, but it can be done.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Transactive energy will play a critical defining role in grid modernization and shaping the Smart Grid.  Buildings, as noted in last week’s article consume 40% of the nation’s energy.  And while building owners can justify purchase decisions on energy savings as well as sustainability values, there’s another crucial factor for building owners to invest in technologies that reduce energy use and deliver self-generation.  That reason is to address the increasing vulnerability of the electrical grid to momentary and sustained power outages to both natural and human causes.

Buildings and their occupants are impacted by grid-related power outages.  The negative impacts range from reduced work productivity and decreased occupant safety and health to reductions in lifestyle standards.  Just like real estate values are higher for green buildings with LEED recognition, in the future, buildings that are grid-hardened may command premium prices because they preserve delivery of services regardless of grid status.  It is a compelling new variable in value propositions for tenants and occupants.<

See on theenergycollective.com

Wind turbines to power Scotland’s railways

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A Scottish railway operating company has been given the green light to install two wind turbines at a West Lothian railway depot. They are expected to produce 14,000kWh of electricity …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

A Scottish railway operating company has been given the green light to install two wind turbines at a West Lothian railway depot.

They are expected to produce 14,000kWh of electricity – enough to power a small station like Greenfaulds, Cumbernauld in Scotland – and save almost eight tonnes of carbon emissions every year. ScotRail also expects to save around £4,500 in energy bills per year, which it plans to reinvest in more renewable energy schemes on Scotland’s railways.

See on www.energylivenews.com

101-Year-Old Toledo Museum of Art Building Goes Temporarily “Off the Grid” After 20 Years of Implementing Green Initiatives – absolutearts.com

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Museum briefly becomes a provider, rather than user, of electricity

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>TOLEDO, OHIO–On Tuesday, May 21 the Toledo Museum of Art achieved a milestone in its 20-year effort to reduce energy consumption: its 101-year-old Beaux Arts main building stopped drawing power from the electrical grid and actually started returning power to the system. The ongoing process, which incorporates using sustainable energy practices such as solar power, energy-efficient lighting, micro turbines and chillers, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost savings over the years.

[…]

Bernhard cited lighting as a good example. The first generation of LED lights weren’t suitable for illuminating and protecting art, so they were bypassed at the time. Now that the technology has dramatically improved, LED fixtures are now being introduced into the galleries, where lights frequently burn out from continual usage. The new lights not only save energy but last much longer, decreasing labor costs associated with the constant replacement of bulbs. The lighting in the renovated lot is also provided by new LED fixtures, which provide greater illumination while using less electricity

Bintz and Bernard also added new micro turbines and chillers to the power plant at TMA’s world-famous TMA Glass Pavilion during last year’s energy upgrade. The heat from the building’s working glass hot shop is recycled into the rest of the building during cold months. While generating electricity, the micro turbine waste heat is used to heat the building in the colder months and generate chilled water for air conditioning in the summer.<

See on www.absolutearts.com

Waste Management’s Hidden Value Driver Doesn’t Stink – DailyFinance

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One thing has plagued mankind from the very first man caves tens of thousands of years ago to the streets of modern day cities: waste. Where do you

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Waste Management has quietly become a leader in waste to energy (WtE) and landfill gas to energy (LGTE) technologies. […] The company, using various sources of waste as feedstock, generates up to 550 MW of renewable energy each year – enough to power almost 1.2 million homes. Internal goals call for increasing that figure to 915 MW (2 million homes) by the end of the decade.

Waste to energy

Waste Management’s waste to energy services ignite solid and municipal waste to produce syngas, which is burned to spin turbines and, alas, create renewable electricity. Wheelabrator, the company’s subsidiary, operates 17 WtE facilities in the United States that can convert over 8 million tons of waste into 333 MW each year. That is second only to Covanta, which owns 44 facilities that convert over 20 million tons of waste into 9 million MWh of electricity each year – equivalent to 8% of all renewable energy in the United States.<

See on www.dailyfinance.com

Solar Air Conditioning: A technological development opportunity in renewable energy (2010) | Solarthermalworld

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This presentation comes from Puerto Rico’s Universidad del Turabo, and explores the benefits of solar thermal air conditioning, the technology that makes this application possible, and how its use can be expanded in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Interesting technologies in Solar and Waste-Heat powered A/C

See on solarthermalworld.org

Energy Institute offers free online energy management training

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The free module covers the role of an energy manager, developing an energy policy and investment in energy efficiency.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The first module of a new e-learning course on energy management, which is currently being developed by the Energy Institute (EI), the professional body for the energy industry, is now available free of charge.<

for course click this link:  http://bit.ly/14KLPzZ

See on www.offshore-publication.com

Go geothermal to maximize energy efficiency

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A huge leap in energy conservation, and undoubtedly the most innovative of all energy saving tactics has its origins in the earth itself

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>This geothermal system provides a quiet environment with a consistent temperature throughout the house or building; efficiently comfortable in the winter, and cool in the summer. The heating or cooling mode can be changed with a simple switch on the indoor thermostat. With virtually no use of fossil fuel, costs for heating and cooling for a typical 4,000-square-foot home can run as low as $2 per day/$60 per month.<

See on www.milforddailynews.com

DPR Construction’s Phoenix Office First Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building in Arizona

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PHOENIX, May 17, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — DPR Construction (DPR), a national technical builder specializing in highly complex and sustainable projects, announced today the achievement of net-zero energy consumption in its Phoenix Regional Office.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The renovated 16,533-square-foot office building is located in Phoenix’s Discovery Triangle at the corner of 44th Street and Van Buren. In less than 10 months, the team, which included national design firm SmithGroupJJR and global consulting firm DNV KEMA Energy and Sustainability, researched, designed, permitted, and built a highly-efficient, modern workplace with a number of innovative sustainability features including:

— 87 operable windows working in tandem with the energy monitoring system to open and close based on the relative indoor and outdoor temperatures

— 87-foot zinc clad solar chimney which creates a convection current to release hot air out of the building while drawing cooler air in

— Shower towers that act as evaporative coolers by working together with the operable windows and solar chimney to regulate building temperatures

— Twelve eight-foot Isis(R) Big Ass(R) Fans that enable free air flow within the office

— 82 strategically positioned Solatubes(R) that nearly eliminate the need for artificial daytime lighting […]<

See on www.marketwatch.com