Automated Demand Response - Free Money

Energy Management Systems & Automated Demand Response

Are your facility's energy costs in control? Being asked to reduce spending on energy without reducing occupant comfort?

Perhaps it's time to simplify your Energy Management System and do both.

Imagine handling all of your energy management tasks from a simple browser window (like the one you're using to view our website right now). Energy ETC knows how to make that happen. You'll be able to monitor and control your entire system, via a secure internet connection, from virtually anywhere. Your office, your home, the coffee shop on the corner, wirelessly on a laptop or palmtop, anywhere you can log on to the World Wide Web. Set up time scheduling, alarm management, automatic demand reduction or load shedding, generate usage reports, billing summaries, tenant override summaries; all this using software that's available for free and easy to use (i.e. Internet Explorer).

Energy ETC is committed to providing SMART Open Multi-Vendor Non-Proprietary Systems.

Contact Energy ETC, Inc. for more information on this great program.

Direct LED Replacements for Flourescent Tube Lighting

Two LED tubes on left vs. two T-12 tubes on right

The future of lighting is here today! Direct replacements for existing T-8 or T-12 fluorescent lamps are easy to install, and will start saving you money immediately.

Energy savings of 60% can be realized by replacing 40watt T-12 tubes with 16watt LED tubes. Already upgraded from T-12 lamps to T-8? Savings are still 50%, but why stop there?

Solid-state lighting can be "dimmable" to reduce wattage even further for greater energy savings. By adding a communication module, light fixtures can be integrated into your building management system to take advantage of time schedules, occupancy sensors, and light harvesting to maintain foot-candle levels. All enabling you to reduce your energy consumption and save you money.

Ancillary savings and benefits from a LED lighting upgrade are:

• Reduced maintenance costs, LED tubes last up to 5x longer than fluorescent tubes (50,000 hours vs 20,000 hours); There are no ballasts required (none to replace); No hazardous materials (mercury or lead as with fluorescent) to dispose of.
• Reduced HVAC load, no ballast means no added heat to return plenums. All energy is converted to light. Heat gain from fluorescent tubes is approximately 590,000btu/tube/year (69kwh/tube/year) vs LEDs at about 132,000btu/tube/year (15.5kwh/tube/year).
• Flicker free lighting means reduced eye strain and headaches; Instant start, no warm-up time; Shatter-proof design means tubes will not break if dropped; No bugs ... LEDs do not emit UV light, so bugs are not attracted to them (ideal for outdoor use as well).

Energy ETC is working with Advanced Control Technologies, Inc. to provide this cost saving opportunity to our customers. Visit their website to download specifications and an "Energy Savings Calculator" to determine your potential savings. Contact Energy ETC when you are ready to start saving energy.

Green Jobs Workforce, Let's Get Ready

Many questions have been raised, rightfully so, regarding the workforce required to support the current and future Green movement.

Energy ETC is moving "full steam ahead" to make sure we are ready. We have partnered with NECA and the IBEW to take advantage of the excellent training programs offered to their membership. We are ready to put these trained professionals to work, giving them "real life" situations to solidify their classroom learning experiences.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) reported in April 2009 that one of the key barriers to the success of meeting energy efficiency targets in buildings will be "Shortages of skilled workers could limit the capacity to carry out widescale retrofitting, especially integrating the different aspects of energy efficient renovation."

Energy ETC is committed to training, inspiring, and employing a workforce of skilled workers to help California continue to be a leader in the Green Movement.

Download a copy of our presentation from the "Go Green" Green Jobs Open House Event:

Here >> greenjobs_20090529.pdf

Smartest Buildings Sense and Use Zone Level Information

Using building occupancy information coupled with zone level temperature sensing will allow your building to make the most intelligent decisions. The building can decide when and where it needs to provide costly HVAC resources while maintaining tenant comfort.

Zones may be calling for heating or cooling, but is anyone in those zones? Will anyone be occupying those zones in the near future?

A smart building knows the answer to these questions and makes the correct decisions for allocating resources on an as needed basis. The good news is that this is not an expensive proposition. The sensors required to make this type of automated building intelligence are often the lowest cost sensors in the entire system. Wall or duct mounted temperature sensors can be purchased in bulk for less than $1o each. So affordable that they can be added for monitoring purposes only, no need to interface them with a zone HVAC controller. Occupancy sensors, which should already be a part of any lighting system, are also affordable sensors these days. The occupancy data can be utilized in countless scenarios, not only for energy savings vs. comfort decisions, but also for lighting, business systems, security, and safety situations.

Install low cost sensors to give your building the data it needs to make Smart decisions. Your tenants will be happy and comfortable, your CEO will notice the positive impact on your utility bill.

Measurement Before Management

Electrical submetering will show you when and where your building is using the most energy. Strategically placed submeters will create your roadmap to energy efficiency projects enabling a streamlined approach (costs less).

Glenn Hubbard, our Energy Partner and submetering expert, has a great line expressed in the title above. Correct. In order to effectively manage energy efficiency efforts, you should determine where your building's energy is being used inefficiently.

Find out more at http://www.energysubmetering.com or http://www.gbhubbard.com

Energy Efficiency the Affordable First Step Towards Zero Net Energy

It may be quite glamorous and popular to install a roof full of solar panels, tap into a geothermal source, or harness the wind to power your home or business. However these types of “sexy systems” should be the last step of your Zero Net Energy project.

By doing some focused work up front to tune, upgrade, or replace inefficient components of your existing building systems you will be able to save a great deal of money by reducing the size (capacity) of your renewable energy system. In addition to the reduction in your project cost, you’ll also enjoy recurring savings on your monthly utility bill by increasing the energy efficiency of your building.

Begin with an energy audit to determine where your building’s strengths and weaknesses are. Your audit report should be very detailed, and include a prioritized list of solutions with budget costs and an expected return on investment (ROI).

Low cost solutions like weather stripping, insulation, door and window replacements or films can be done for a small fraction of the cost of a photovoltaic (PV) system.

Medium cost solutions like HVAC system maintenance and lighting upgrades (LED being the best choice right now) are still first phase projects and make great economic sense.

Higher cost solutions will still be less than you’d pay for a renewable energy system (especially if sized for an inefficient building) and must be done to lower your overall power consumption. DDC controls for HVAC, sub-metering, lighting controls, demand response controls, etc fall into this category.

Making your building as energy efficient as possible will lower your utility bill and earn you immediate monthly savings. Start banking those savings and put them towards your (now smaller and less costly) PV system. It will still be “sexy”, it will still get you to zero net energy, it just won’t cost as much.

Now, that was smart.