Award

n the design front, the program pays up to 100 per cent of the cost of an energy study that uses both baseline and proposed scenarios for the building. It encompasses a range of factors that affect energy consumption ��� HVAC, envelope, lighting, etc. Damy estimates that a study for a 20-storey building with about 200 suites costs in the range of $30,000 to $40,000. The program provides 50 per cent of the costs on completion of the study. Then, if the developer includes at least half of the extras recommended in the study, he receives the other half of its cost. The real meat in this sandwich, as one might expect, relates to the program���s support for actually including those measures in the project that can really put a dent into the building���s power consumption profile. In broad terms, the incentive structure is pegged to the amount by which power consumption is reduced. ���We provide a tiered capital incentive. The more you save in kilowatt hours (of power consumption), the more money you get from BC Hydro. Our incentive system usually covers about 50 per cent of the incremental costs of the savings measures,��� says Damy. The incentives speed up the payback realized from the additional energy-saving components, typically resulting in payback after about five years, instead of 10. For operations, the program provides some assistance for performance optimization. The educational component of the program mostly involves workshops for stakeholders and attendance has totalled about 1,300 participants over the last three years, says Damy. The program appears to be catching on. Five years ago, only half a dozen or so studies were done annually, while for 2012, Damy expects the year will round out with about 45 done. Overall, he estimates the program is seeing over 20 per cent annual growth. O learly, governments and large provincial utilities have a role in both shaping perceptions around energy conservation and enabling the concept with incentive programs ��� and regulation, in the case of government. Smaller outfits, like energy trader Bullfrog Power, which retails electricity and natural gas from renewable sources like wind and biomass, also have a role in both enabling sustainability and promoting it. In common with the Ontario and B.C. programs for conservation, Bullfrog���s renewable program is largely about creating and promoting structures that support the objectives of sustainability and conservation. Purchasers of green power from Bullfrog typically pay a premium, but make the sacrifice to achieve the goal of a diminished carbon footprint. (A central concept of Bullfrog���s business model is that increased customer demand for green options will drive the development of renewable sources.) Also, by opting for green power, businesses can help spread the word. ���Purchasing green power allows an organization to lower its environmental footprint, but companies can also leverage the purchase to communicate their sustainability initiative to their various stakeholders. These can include employees, lunchand-learn attendees, members of a client���s supply chain,��� says Anthony Santilli, VP of sales and marketing at Bullfrog. He says the company helps its clients ���communicate the measures they���ve taken to reduce their environmental footprint.��� C Energy Management p32-35EnergyMgmt.indd 35 Bullfrog���s offer affords utility consumers the opportunity to choose renewables on a voluntary basis, which is great. Unfortunately, though, there are still very few such options available in Canada ��� compared to the U.S., with hundreds of programs promoting renewable options on a voluntary basis. Still, on the sustainability front overall, some Canadian programs, like BC Hydro���s Power Smart, promote conservation on a voluntary basis.���Although the relative dearth of programs in Canada shows no sign of morphing into a surfeit, the good news is that Canadian businesses and consumers can still ride the coattails of burgeoning technological advances and new product development. LED fixtures are a case in point. Each year sees this type of lighting charting new territory. Their cost has been an obstacle, but it is one that���s now on the wane. ���Prices are coming down to where we can use it for an entire residential highrise within a year or so ��� not only for common areas, but also exteriors and even the residential units. Prices are dropping around 15 per cent a year, and electricity costs are going up,��� says Steve Nemetz, president of Nemetz (SA) & Associates Ltd. He notes that technologies like LED help lighting systems surpass ASHRAE standards and support LEED projects. The Vancouver-based firm specializes in electrical engineering and lighting design and its recently opened Toronto office underlines Nemetz���s optimism about the energy management sector. Even in provinces like Alberta, where nearly 60 per cent of the electricity generation is coal fired, conservation issues are on the back burner and nothing comparable to B.C.���s or Ontario���s incentive programs to reduce power consumption exists. Innovative energy management solutions in that province are being implemented only on occasion. A retrofit at a municipal library building in Calgary involved the replacement of metal halide high bay lighting with LED. ���A study showed that with today���s power rates, the operating costs for lighting would be over $10,000 per year. Our design uses both LED up-light and downlight. It reduces consumption costs to under $4,000 per year,��� says Greg Pavlovich, a Calgary-based engineering manager, electrical, at Williams Engineering. The payback time, up to 25 years, would likely discourage almost anyone other than an institutional owner from going the LED route on this project, despite the operational savings. As Pavlovich notes, ���The costs of LED are still high. We���re still looking for LED to be available for all scenarios.��� Several factors, though, including lower maintenance costs, could shorten the payback time to around 15 years. esides using motion sensors, other monitoring devices, and low-consumption LED fixtures, one way to cut power bills is to design spaces for a lower level of lighting. ���Office space used to be designed for 50-foot candles. Now, they are often being designed for around 30-foot candles,��� Pavlovich says. One of the most successful ways of doing this involves strategically using the reflection of light from walls and ceilings. Pavolovich says, ���The use of down-light and up-light allows for fewer fixtures, better uniformity of light and no dark spots. It can be used for LED or fluorescent. You think it���s brighter than it is.��� The total power consumption of buildings ��� either new construction or retrofits ��� is also being reduced thanks to some new software programs. One of the factors that can limit the full consumption savings potential of modern building management systems is the tendency of operations to drift away from the original design parameters, says Colin Pollard, a business development specialist at Houle Controls, a division of Houle Electric Ltd. Software products from companies like ADMS Technologies and ICONICS, he says, provide diagnostics, fault detection, incorporate algorithms to weigh the probability of faults, and says Pollard, in some instances, ���even modify [settings] or attempt to fix a problem.��� He says that this type of software is being advocated by some energy management consultants. Needless to say, the latter are playing a part in shaping the energy management sector as a whole, besides having an impact on its products and services. George Steeves, president of Sterling Cooper & Associates, notes that although the firm���s core business is plumbing and heating for highrises, it also does some building plant management. As he points out, some companies, referred to as ESCOs ��� for energy services companies ��� not only design the HVAC, lighting, and building management systems, but also assume risks associated with providing performance guarantees. ���ESCOs done well can be very successful,��� he says. Providing maintenance can also be part of the package in an ESCO arrangement, but, Steeves says, ���It can be hard to find people who are trained to run buildings well.��� MCW Custom Energy Solutions Ltd. operates as an ESCO with performance guarantees and has a way of dealing with this sort of challenge. On large projects, for example, ���We have a program assurance specialist on site daily during the payback period,��� says Colin Rabnett, an executive partner at MCW. The firm has been operating for more than two decades and recently completed a $50-million retrofit on a 7,500-unit housing complex, consisting mostly of highrises. The project included a $20-million energy upgrade, with performance guarantees. Rabnett says the goal of this ��� and most MCW projects ��� is energy savings with a quick payout. He says the firm has not had to pay for non-performance or failure in 25 years. Clearly, this is an example of a successful business model. ��� B february 2013��� ��� /35 13-01-22 3:16 PM

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