Two new reports from the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) show how a new kind of energy policy is creating skilled, export-proof jobs in cities across the United States. Under this type of policy, called building energy rating and disclosure, owners of large buildings track exactly how much energy their properties use. Armed with this information, they can make changes that reduce their utility bills and those of their tenants-helping everyone’s bottom line.

Five cities and two states have already adopted such policies. If there were a national policy, 23,000 net new jobs would be added in 2015 and 59,000 jobs in 2020.

When buildings’ energy use is made transparent (given a grade that is published online or shared in a real estate transaction), it’s like an MPG sticker for buildings. Americans can shop for office space or a new apartment with an eye on how much it will cost them in utilities. That, in turn, spurs owners to make their buildings more efficient, creating demand for specialists who can help reduce energy use: energy managers and auditors, sustainability consultants, and HVAC professionals.

Energy Disclosure and the New Frontier for American Jobs  profiles business leaders who are adding jobs and expanding their client rosters. These are mostly small business owners who are pioneers in the emerging field of building energy management.

• In New York City, FS Energy has grown from 3 to 10 employees, thanks to the city’s Local Law 84. Steven Winters Associates has added more than 10 members of staff. “Our business is growing a lot and we anticipate it will continue to grow. We already have more work to do than we have people for,” says Erica Brabon, senior consultant.

• Sustaining Structures, a Seattle firm, expects to triple in size in coming years, and has already seen its client base grow by more than 30 percent since Seattle’s rating and disclosure law was passed.

Analysis of Job Creation and Energy Cost Savings From Building Energy Rating and Disclosure Policy  shows that current job growth is just the beginning. This analysis by IMT and the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, predicts:

• A national building energy rating and disclosure policy would create more than 23,000 net new jobs in 2015 and 59,000 jobs in 2020.
• It would reduce energy costs for building owners, consumers, and tenant businesses by more than $18 billion through 2020.
• The energy and greenhouse gas reduction would be equivalent to taking more than 3 million cars off the road each year.

“Brilliant in its simplicity, public disclosure of building energy consumption will start a stampede to upgrade buildings,” predicts venture capitalist Elton Sherwin, author of the book Addicted to Energy. Energy disclosure harnesses the power of information in a way that’s unprecedented for the built environment. For decades, nobody has known the difference between an energy-efficient building and an energy-inefficient building.

“Better information means more competition for better buildings,” says IMT’s Andrew Burr, the lead author of both reports. “It means more private investment channeled into training workers, retuning mechanical systems, and upgrading equipment. And that means more work improving American buildings and more American jobs.”

Source: globe-net.com

Solar power and wind power are in store for TARDEC, the Army’s state-of-the-art vehicle research center in Michigan. TARDEC will be the first Army installation to use a solar powered microgrid, designed to win energy security for two of TARDEC’s laboratories, which will be able to run off grid in case of power outages. The microgrid, set for installation this spring, will include wind power, fuel cells and other energy sources, as well as a mobile solar generator and charging station for hybrid electric vehicles.

Energy Security for Everyone

The installation moves the Army further along its Net Zero goal of enabling its facilities to use only as much energy as they can produce on site. Part of the Army’s Net Zero initiative involves sharing information with the civilian sector, so lessons learned from operating the microgrid will help enable commercial facilities and communities to develop locally sourced energy, too.

TARDEC’s New Microgrid

The microgrid was designed to power TARDEC’s (that stands for Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, by the way) two System Integration Laboratories as well as parking lot lights. The grid’s designers anticipate that at least part of the time, the microgrid will generate excess power that can be used elsewhere in the sprawling TARDEC complex.

TARDEC and the New Energy Future

Under the Obama Administration TARDEC has accelerated its work on fuel efficient vehicles such as the diesel-electric hybrid vehicle it showcased at the North American International Auto Show in 2010. That’s just a taste of things to come — in 2009 TARDEC broke ground on a research laboratory in its sprawling complex, called the Ground Systems Power and Energy Laboratory. Set to open on April 11, the lab will focus squarely on alternative energy and energy efficiency with the help of partners in the private sector and academia.

State-of-the-Art Vehicle Energy Research

The new facility actually contains eight individual laboratories to allow for tests in controlled environmental conditions including temperature, humidity and wind. One lab is dedicated to advanced energy storage development, and there are also labs dedicated to fuel cells and vehicle electrical systems.

Of particular note is the lab dedicated to hybrid electric power trains. Waste energy from some of the equipment used in the lab can be captured through regenerative systems and used to power other equipment.

Source: Cleantechnica.com ]]> http://www.voyantsolutions.ca/industry-news/u-s-army-gets-its-first-solar-powered-microgrid/feed/ 0 http://www.voyantsolutions.ca/industry-news/new-fortis-rates-to-benefit-natural-gas-customers/ http://www.voyantsolutions.ca/industry-news/new-fortis-rates-to-benefit-natural-gas-customers/#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:27:03 +0000 admin http://www.voyantsolutions.ca/?p=534 March 12, 2012, Surrey, B.C. – The British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) confirmed today that, most of FortisBC’s natural gas customers will see a commodity rate decrease starting April 1, 2012. This also includes piped propane customers living in Revelstoke.  Midstream and delivery rates for customers are not affected by this decision.

With reductions in energy consumption and operation expenses achieving this potential, and with concerns over security and changes in operational practices recognized, companies of all sizes should evaluate their options in the cloud computing space.  Technological advances have reduced the cost of switching to virtual servers and storage, while the efficiency and security measures are being continually increased.

The truth is that maintaining IT servers is expensive, both in power consumption and in operational cost and manpower.  As well, disparate systems often require dedicated servers which result in an abundance of unused capacity and overall waste.  By consolodating into a shared, hosted cloud computing environment, you save on efficiency and optimization of your IT applications and storage requirements.

In addition to the obvious IT applications existing in the cloud (email servers, network files and folders, CRM applications), the facility automation system is now a viable application that can be run in a hosted environment.  By moving the facility automation software engine to a cloud-based service (and depending on which product and service provider was chosen), there would no longer be the requirement of site software or databases to maintain, meaning the operating system upgrades or software version updates are virtually eliminated.  An addtional benefit is that facility automation cloud computing puts the future software choices back into the hands of the end-user: If the decision was made to move to a different application in the future, the option to utilize the existing hardware platform and move to a new product/service should be readily available.

To read the full article, click here.

Leading accounting bodies release report highlighting how small- and medium-sized companies can profit from sustainability

LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO, September 28, 2011- Small- and medium-sized enterprises are placing more emphasis on sustainability and its paying off on the bottom lines says their accountants.

Three international accounting bodies have released a comprehensive research report underlining the growing emphasis small- and medium-sized enterprises are placing on sustainability as it becomes increasingly crucial to business performance

The report titled “SMEs Set Their Sights on Sustainability: Case Studies from the UK, US and Canada“ was issued by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA).

It uses concrete examples to show how smaller companies can lead the market and become champions of sustainable practice. It also reveals how the finance function can play a central role in this process.

The report focuses on nine case studies – three each from the UK, US and Canada – showing smaller companies who are taking different approaches to the same core issues, all using sustainable practices to their advantage.

While compliance with regulatory requirements remains the most common driver of business sustainability, profitability and other strategic factors are increasingly significant.

A sustainable business is more robust and more efficient; it appeals to customers’ changing values, strengthens relationships with suppliers and positions the brand as a good corporate citizen, notes the report. It can reduce the variable costs of running a business while driving profitability.

The report builds on a joint survey completed at the end of last year. The survey by the three accounting bodies revealed that 33% of smaller companies involved had a sustainability strategy in place, and an additional 23% had plans to formulate a strategy in the next two years, emphasizing that sustainability is a growing priority.

Sandra Rapacioli, Head of Sustainability at CIMA, said: “We are seeing a shift in culture. SMEs are looking past survival and recognizing that successful sustainability performance translates to long-term success. Many are maximizing sustainability practices by also linking them to short-term goals, such as cost efficiencyand competitor differentiation.”

“One leading UK stationery and business supplies provider is a great example. Initially skeptical, the company has not only reduced energy costs by an average of 5% year-on-year for the last four years, but has also increased sales and profits by differentiating itself as a sustainable supplier.”

Sue Coffey, AICPA Senior Vice President, Public Practice and Global Alliance, said: “One of the lessons from the case studies is that finance professionals often play a key role in defining and guiding sustainability strategies, in part because they are used to navigating different parts of a business and keeping an eye on the big picture. It’s one more example of the value the finance function can bring to an organization.”

By ‘walking the talk’, one US midsize bank has reduced its power consumption by 40% with a solar installation, while maintaining a profitable business model making commercially viable loans to customers financing renewable and energy-efficient projects.

“Collaborative studies provide a valuable snapshot of what is happening across several jurisdictions,” stressessed Nicholas Cheung, National Practice Area Leader for Sustainability at CICA.

“SMEs are interesting to study because they usually have more agility than large multinationals to make meaningful change and clearly demonstrate the benefits that come with sustainable business practices.”

A multifaceted Canadian food company profiled in the publication maintains that sustainability is beneficial as people are looking for companies that are doing something positive.

The company makes a profit, but it also goes into schools to teach children about growing food and making healthy snacks, sources 90% of its produce locally, consults with urban gardeners and funds community projects.

The company notes that people are less tolerant of operations just seeking to maximize profit, and are looking for enterprises that are environmentally and socially aware.

In many SMEs, finance professionals play a critical role in formulating and implementing a sustainability strategy. They have the skills and tools required to define the metrics that determine the effort’s goals and progress, and help foster the vital link between investment in the strategy and the commercial benefit that accrues.

SMEs Set Their Sights on Sustainability: Case Studies from the UK, US and Canada is available at http://www.cica.ca/sme-sustainability-2011

Source: www.globe-net.com

Both targets are to be achieved by 2013.  The article highlights several retrofit projects that have implemented energy-efficient technologies and materials, and how these projects have reduced their annual energy consumption by 6,000,000 ekWh.

Some examples of the projects and technologies are as follows:

- Lighting retrofits: moving to high-efficiency LED and fluorescent lamps

- Energy savings refrigeration equipment : specifically highly efficient dairy case doors, and system upgrades

- Enhanced monitoring and control: including leak monitoring technology

Combined, these savings are the equivalent to powering 545 homes for one year!  To read more, visit the Thrifty Foods’ website.  You can find the magazine here (page 7), as well as browse Thrifty’s committments to social responsibility and sustainability here.

London, UK. September 14, 2011 -

Written by global professional services firm PwC on behalf of CDP, this report attributes this to growing board-level awareness of the link between energy efficiency and increased profitability.

The report, entitled Accelerating low carbon growth, analyzed disclosures from 396 of the world’s largest companies, reveals 68% have climate change at the heart of business strategies, compared with 48% in 2010.

There was also a marked rise in the number of companies reporting reduced greenhouse gas emissions as a result of emissions reduction activities (45%, up from 19% in 2010).

A correlation was also established between higher stock market performance over time, and representation on CDP’s Carbon Performance Leadership Index (CPLI) and the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI).

Companies with a strategic focus on climate change provided investors with approximately double the average total return of the Global 500 from January 2005 to May 2011.

Paul Simpson, CEO of the Carbon Disclosure Project, said “The improved financial performance of companies with high carbon performance is a clear indicator that it makes good business sense to manage and reduce carbon emissions.”

This is a ‘win-win’ situation for business, he added, noting that the short ROIs that many emissions reducing activities have can help increase profitability. “Companies yet to take action on climate change will have to work hard to remain competitive as we head towards an increasingly resourced constrained, low carbon economy,” he said.

The report also notes that rising oil prices, energy supply risks and growing recognition of the commercial returns on investments in emissions reduction activities contributed to the growth in importance of climate change as a boardroom issue.

Over half (59%) of reported emissions reduction activities delivered payback in three years or less according to company submissions. These include energy efficiency projects (building fabric, building services and processes), low carbon energy installations and staff behavioural change.

Employee incentives to reduce emissions are now offered by 65% of companies, compared with 49% in 2010

Steve Waygood, head of sustainability research & engagement at Aviva Investors, the asset manager, said “We believe that the external costs of greenhouse gas emissions will become internalized into company cash flows and profitability. Managing greenhouse gas emissions is therefore essential to delivering sustainable shareholder returns.”

There still remains huge potential in companies for achieving cost effective emissions reductions, he added.

The Carbon Performance Leadership Index and Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index are revised annually based on company submissions and present the leaders of the Global 500 in carbon performance and disclosure respectively. The top 10 best performing companies on both measures this year are:

• USA:Bank of America, Cisco Systems
• Japan:  Honda Motor Company, Sony Corporation
• Germany:  Bayer, BMW, SAP
• United Kingdom:  Tesco
• Netherlands:  Philips Electronics
• Australia:  Westpac Banking Corporation

Other key findings from CDP’s Global 500 report

-  74% of Global 500 respondents reported emissions reduction targets, up from 65% in 2010

-  The majority of respondents (93%) reported board or senior executive oversight for climate change (up from 85% in 2010) demonstrating the importance of climate change as a management issue

-  Over 30 new companies targeted by CDP’s Carbon Action request* (see notes to editor) have now set reduction targets, implying growing recognition by companies of the commercial benefits of emissions target setting

-  Utilities is the sector with the best average climate change performance (band B)

-  Telecommunications is the only sector not represented in the CPLI this year; a surprising finding given expectation that this sector will support emissions reduction activities

-  The Energy sector lags others sectors with the lowest proportion of companies setting targets (55%) and underrepresentation in both the CDLI and CPLI

-  Just 37% of respondents currently verify their emissions to acceptable standards, despite the importance of providing investors with validated climate data

Full copies of the Global 500 report 2011 are available here.

Source: www.globe-net.com

While it is noted that this report is focused solely on accuracy and doesn’t address all of the concerns associated with smart meters, it is a fact worth recognizing.  Please see below for more information.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE):  Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) announced today that a recent study, requested by the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Ohio and conducted by MetaVu, thought leader in sustainability advisory, energy and environmental performance measurement, confirms the precision measurement of Echelons smart meters in Ohio. Of the meters examined during the test, all were found to be accurate to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards.

Consumer advocacy groups across the U.S. have raised concerns that incorrect and inaccurate data collected by smart meters leads to higher-than-expected utility bills. The testing and verification efforts undertaken by MetaVu demonstrate that Echelon smart meters are accurately and reliably delivering meter data to utilities.

Not only were the Echelon meters well within the manufacturers specifications, certified test lab Alliance Calibration found they were much more accurate than the meters being replaced, described Paul Alvarez, leader of MetaVus utility practice and the Ohio deployment assessment project.

Meter reliability and accuracy are critical to our customers. Were proud that many of our customers have reported nearly 100% reliability, said Michael Anderson, senior vice president for utility sales and market development at Echelon. MetaVus study affirms our commitment to providing a quality product, and our millions of meters in the field illustrate our customers trust in Echelon technology.

Echelon will be hosting a webinar with MetaVu and SAIC on the True Value of Grid Reliability September 21, 2011 at 10:00 am Pacific where some of the MetaVu observations will be shared. Register at http://info.echelon.com/go-reliablegrid.com.html. You can also visit Echelon at Autovation in booth 535 September 26 28 where they will be giving demos of their ground-breaking Edge Control Node (ECN).

To read the full meter accuracy assessment developed by MetaVu, please visit http://dis.puc.state.oh.us/ViewImage.aspx?CMID=A1001001A11F30B73603I44077.

About Echelon Corporation

Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) is the world’s leading open-standard energy control networking company. Echelon technologies connect more than 35 million homes, 300,000 buildings and 100 million devices to the smart grid, and help customers save 20% or more on their energy usage. With more than 20 years of experience in energy control, Echelon delivers a wide range of innovative solutions to commercial and electric utility customers. More information about Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.

Note the logo on the top right corner of the bag…..Mr. Christie: you make ‘green’ cookies!

To read more about the custom solutions presented by Voyant that identified over 30% in energy savings with a payback of less than four years, click here.