Conway Daily Sun - Shaheen Touts Energy Efficiency
News Article
By Daymond Steer
Efficiency often gets the short shrift in debates about energy. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is hoping to change that by sponsoring a bipartisan bill that she says would deliver several incentives to business.
She delivered her message Friday at a business roundtable at the North Conway Grand Hotel because it offered an example of how such incentives could work. In partnership with the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, the hotel underwent several renovations that helped reduce energy consumption and save money.
The bill Shaheen is sponsoring is called The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act 0f 2011, or S1000. The bill would pertain to building codes, appliances, manufacturers, and even the federal government's energy use. The bill supports model building codes which set the goal of having buildings that have no net energy consumption. The building codes would be voluntary but there would be incentives for using them.
"I'm sure all of you have been as frustrated as I have over the last couple of years by the failure of Congress to get an energy bill out," said Shaheen. "Too often people have been divided over the source of energy you support: wind, solar, or oil, gas, and nuclear. The fastest cheapest way to address our energy needs is though energy efficiency. The demand side is the piece that often is not talked about so much."
North Conway Grand's manager Susan Lautenschlager explained the hotel has benefited from rebates the electric co-op offered for a lighting retrofit and HVAC. In addition, the hotel outfitted all guest rooms and public spaces with energy-efficient light bulbs.
"One major benefit is the cost savings for the hotel which will enable us to reinvest in our property and to improve our product," said Lautenschlager. "We then can yield a higher occupancy and offer more jobs to our community."
Shaheen said buildings use 40 percent of the nation's energy. So, it's important to get people focused on how to make them efficient. To help achieve that end, the bill "enables customers of rural electric co-operatives to make efficiency upgrades to their homes and businesses by establishing loan programs that they can repay through their utility bills," according to a written summary of the bill.
The idea for the loans was borrowed from the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative's Smart Start program, which has a decade's worth of data that demonstrates what savings are possible. There would also be assistance for manufacturers that want to upgrade.
Craig Snow, of the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, said Smart Start is available for all the co-op's commercial and municipal accounts. The cooperative uses 75 percent of projected savings to make the payments on the work that was done. The cooperative puts up the money upfront and the savings are spread out over time.
As for the lighting at North Conway Grand, the hotel was able to upgrade almost 700 light fixtures, which will save about 60,000 Kilowatt hours or a cost of about $8,000 per year. The payback for all the work will take 2.5 years.
"It's a very effective program," said Snow of the lighting retrofit.
The hotel's chief engineer, Craig Osgood, said while saving money was important, the hotel also made sure the guests' stay would not be compromised. The lighting retrofit covered all the guest rooms, bathrooms, all the hallways and stairways, and backrooms such as the kitchen and storage areas. The job was done in 2.5 weeks and caused little interruption.
"It was a no brainer," said Osgood. "We got a brighter, crisper light. we were going to be saving money and we were increasing the guest experience. Right away we got comments from our guests saying the bathrooms were brighter, the hallways are more well lit."
The hotel has also replaced its air-conditioning systems. For example, said Osgood, the hotel owners installed a dry cooler. This machine is used at times when there is a large function in the ballroom in the middle of winter.
"We use that 20-degree cold weather outside to air condition that ballroom without running the compressor, which just eats up the electricity," said Osgood.
Snow added the cooperative was also involved in the chiller project.
The bill calls for energy standards for home appliances, outdoor lighting and HVAC systems. Manufacturers have agreed to these standards, said Shaheen. The bill could save consumers $43 billion annually.
The bill also requires the federal government to become greener, said Shaheen, who added the federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the United States. In fact, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has already been successful at this. The VA has saved $32 million per year by simply getting employees to turn off their computers at the end of the work day. The bill would make Smart metering available to government agencies, said Shaheen.
From the audience, Madison resident Ray O'Brien added that the savings at the VA were equal to Conway's school budget. O'Brien also wondered if the bill would address biomass.
Shaheen replied that there would be some provisions for promoting biomass.
The former governor said proponents of this bill are hoping to get the business community to rally behind it as well. Shaheen and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, have been working with the Alliance to Save Energy, a coalition of energy-related companies and organizations. So far, over 100 groups have signed on in support.
It would also spur private investment in commercial industrial, and municipal building efficiency.
The bill doesn't have energy-efficiency standards because the sponsors didn't think such standards would get bipartisan support. The bill has incentives for states to improve their building codes.
Cranmore Mountain's president and general manage Ben Wilcox also shared an energy-efficiency success story. Now Cranmore uses modern tower guns to make snow. They are five times more efficient than traditional snow guns. The switch reduced Cranmore's electric bill.
"We can make more snow in a shorter time period," said Wilcox, adding that Cranmore has taken advantage of the co-op's rebate programs and Smart Start. "During those lean years it was a great asset."
Conway town manager Earl Sires wondered if there was any buy-American provision in the legislation.
"There isn't now but that's a really good suggestion we ought to take a look at," Shaheen replied.
Snow said there are easy ways to become more energy efficient at home. For example, people can save $2 per month by unplugging their cell phone charger when it's not in use.
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