Advancing sustainability through building electrification
Transitioning facilities to electric sources has contributed to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Over the last few years, we've watched our building electrification projects expand alongside an increased focus on sustainability. This has involved teaming up with utilities, partnering directly with consumers, collaborating with municipalities and more.
Here are some ways our clients are transitioning to electric systems and reducing their environmental impact.
Powering Efficiency Maine's decarbonization evolution
We're collaborating with Efficiency Maine to provide installation discounts for heat pump water heaters (HPWH). This program offers midstream incentives for eligible products as well as downstream rebates. It also includes a diverse array of retail, distributor, and manufacturer partners, in addition to comprehensive management, implementation and administrative services.
This program also offers two additional programs aimed at helping households switch to more energy-efficient water heaters. The first program is designed for low-to-moderate income (LMI) households and installs free HPWH units to eligible residents. The second program, a residential market-based initiative, collaborates with a network of almost 1,000 independent trade partners to boost program involvement.
These HPWH programs have yielded impressive results in advancing overall sustainability throughout the state. As of August 2022, we've successfully installed 53,000 units for income-qualified residential homes, making it one of the most successful HPWH programs in the nation.
Direct-to-customer: Bringing sustainability to the tech industry
In California
We are currently collaborating with a Fortune 500 technology industry leader on a building electrification initiative at their San Jose campus. This project involves substantial renovations to the building's hot water piping system, assessment of the hot water usage in their commercial kitchen, as well as the installation of heat recovery chillers and heat pump water heaters. When complete, we will have reduced this building's Scope 1, or direct, emissions by more than 95%.
In Colorado
During the past year, we successfully developed an electrification roadmap for another tech giant's campus in Colorado Springs, CO. We calculated the construction costs for seven unique building electrification projects to identify the associated benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and related direct expenses. Once these projects are realized, all Scope 1 emissions on this campus will be eliminated.
We are currently in the final stages of preparing engineering and construction documents for the initial three projects - connecting the heating hot water piping between two campus buildings, installing two electric boilers, and implementing a heat recovery chiller.
Municipalities: Upgrading the coast of Silicon Valley
We've partnered with a major city in California to provide guidance and support to households looking to improve their home's energy efficiency. As leading energy efficiency consultants, our focus is on improving people's home comfort, indoor air quality and reducing energy use overall. We also help households in planning home upgrades by offering insights into insulation, appliance age and other potential upgrades.
What’s more, we’re supporting the city by:
- Conducting various comprehensive energy assessments for the city (both in-person visits and virtual assessments), in addition to exploring electrification options.
- Providing diagnostics that help households identify the most effective paths for upgrades through proprietary technology tools.
- Offering discounted options and helping homeowners access rebates for installing heat pump water heaters in close collaboration with the city.
Our objective aligns with the city's goals – making sure everyone has access to a range of affordable resources to make their homes more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable.
Building electrification
We’re thrilled to see the building and facility electrification trend continue to grow and excited to see the impact our work with partners and clients will have on reducing GHG emissions. Contact us to discuss how our energy efficiency consultants can bring greater sustainability to your facilities.