Get Energy Efficiency Funds Before Competition Heats Up

In This Issue

Get Your NYSERDA Funds Before Competition Heats Up

Did You Know... Energy Efficient Lighting in Commercial Buildings

Improve Environmental Performance, Reduce Costs

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Over Nine Million Sq. Feet Benchmarked. Now What?

While benchmarking may not yet be mandatory across the country, its benefits are clear. Over the past few months, we completed benchmarking energy use in over nine million square feet of commercial space in New York to meet the August 1 deadline for compliance with the state's Local Law 84. So what's next for benchmarked buildings in New York and across the country? Well, it's time to use the data and perhaps secure some valuable funds.

Buildings that have benchmarked their energy use through ENERGY STAR's Portfolio Manager should log into the website to access their scores. While many factors affect scores, in general scores below 90 indicate a potential for improvement. Knowing where you stand as compared to similar buildings will help you improve your energy efficiency management. For New York buildings, it will also help them look ahead to the next compliance requirement - Local Law 87.

Since it can be difficult to pinpoint areas where energy waste might be happening, if you are new to benchmarking, you should start by tracking your data in detail on two fronts:

A Metrics platform, which allows you to see year to year performance figures.
ENERGY STAR's Portfolio Manager, which allows you to see your data ranked against a large pool of nationwide information.

Your metrics data easily feeds into ENERGY STAR's Portfolio Manager. So start benchmarking now. It is a hallmark of every good energy management policy.

- The Great Forest Team

Get Your Share of NYSERDA Funds Before The Competition Heats Up

New York buildings should plan their energy audits and retro-commissioning studies required by Local Law 87 now even though mandatory compliance does not begin until 2013. Why? Because waiting could mean losing out on valuable NYSERDA funds, or having to do additional work to access these funds.

This is because the program will change shape and may shift its funding criteria as applications pour in closer to the 2013 deadline for compliance. Right now in 2011, NYSERDA's Existing Building and Flex-Tech funding can help cover some of the costs for audits, studies and implementation of efficiency measures.

Going by the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager scores just released by the EPA, it looks like most commercial buildings benchmarked in New York have room for efficiency improvements, scoring below the 90-point threshold. And even if your building scored higher, the Local Law 87 requirements will still need to be met.

You can ensure early compliance with a 2011 or 2012 filing, and begin applying for NYSERDA funds for energy audits. Early filers may also have a chance to correct conditions that cause low scores before building ratings become public in 2012.

To secure NYSERDA funding under current programs, work has to start now on applications, strategizing and making contacts with the appropriate engineering firms. Follow up work may also need to be planned ahead and can include measurement and verification (M&V) and project monitoring.

Call your Great Forest representative to get started now.

Did You Know...

New Lighting Standards Tackle Largest Source of Energy Consumption

With lighting accounting for the single largest electricity usage in the commercial sector (three times the energy consumption of air conditioning, for example), new legislation will soon help buildings and businesses make a big impact on the environment and their bottom line.

Beginning next year, new national standards will begin to phase out many old inefficient incandescent light bulbs, and require new bulbs to use 25% to 30% less energy. This means that if your building is one of the many commercial properties that still use incandescent bulbs, you may see a drop in your energy consumption and costs when you install these new efficient bulbs. (In 2020, the second phase of the standard will go into effect and will require new light bulbs to be even more efficient, using approximately 65% less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs.)

But you don't need to wait until the new legislation goes into effect; start reducing energy consumption now with some smart lighting changes.

Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) use one-fourth the power of a comparable incandescent and last up to 10 times longer.
LED technology can save even more money over its lifetime. Look for new LEDs with improved light quality to be introduced soon to the market.
Many commercial buildings also use halogens and T-12 fluorescent lamps with magnetic ballasts, which will not be affected by the new standards. But, by switching in a T-8 for a T-12, including replacing magnetic ballasts for electronic ballasts, buildings can reduce the amount of lighting energy by 17% to 48%.

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