As one of our four major programs, NCIPL is proud to offer free energy efficiency workshops to any interested congregation located in North Carolina. The audit workshop entails a short presentation followed by a walkthrough, totaling to be about two hours. Audits in the western part of the state are typically on Saturdays; elsewhere they are during the workweek. Low and no-cost recommendations are the focus of the audit, meaning that this is not a highly technical audit. We will examine ways in which your congregation can reduce your building’s carbon footprint and save money on its energy bills while helping to protect Creation. Any interested congregation simply needs to fill out the “Certificate of Participation,” and be in touch with our Volunteer Coordinator, Allison Scherberger (Allison@ncipl.org) to begin scheduling an audit. Our current volunteer auditors work for the Department of Natural Resources and MAE Energy Solutions, a program funded by NC State University.

Closing the first $1 million in residential energy efficiency loans, Abundant Power reached a milestone in the $10.4 million “green community” program it administers for St. Louis County, Missouri. It is the first residential program in the nation to use a Qualified Energy Conservation Bond for financing, and as a result is able to offer interest rates at 3.5 percent for unsecured loans for home owner improvements. Typical unsecured lending rates range in the double digits, so the St. Louis County SAVES program provides real stimulus to the market. 

“St. Louis County home owners and contractors have demonstrated that low interest financing drives demand, which in turn drives jobs as well as attention from the capital markets," said Shannon Smith, CEO of Abundant Power. "The early results indicate untapped potential for energy efficiency financing.”  St. Louis County has enjoyed strong participation from the contractor community — more than 100 contractors attended the training. 

Lime Energy Co. has been awarded a two-year contract by Public Service Electric & Gas for the implementation of their Energy Efficiency Direct Install Program. PSE&G is one of the largest combined electric and gas companies in the United States and is also New Jersey's oldest and largest electric and gas utility. The Program, serving municipalities and not-for-profits, is budgeted for $25 million over the next two years.

Josh Hawn is a Director & Co-Founder of Sustainable Industrial Solutions, which provides cost-driven, practical sustainability solutions tailored for industry. Prior to joining SIS, Hawn worked as a management consultant within the national security industry focused on energy and environment issues. His background is also international, where he helped launch a nonprofit in South Africa and spent several years in London providing clean energy advise to some of the UK’s largest companies. Hawn, North Carolina native, holds a BS degree in Management from NC State University, a MA in International Relations from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and a MBA from Oxford University, UK. NCSEA spoke with Hawn about SIS's Paid-from-Savings program and its work with Nomaco Insulation.

SIS has a unique niche in the sustainable energy field. Could you talk about how SIS fulfills that need for sustainable practices
in industry?
We strive to look holistically across an organization to install the most effective energy efficiency & sustainable energy solution and not just push one technology or project (e.g. lighting). When working with our customers we assess a range of options — smart meters, building system retrofits, 'internal green teams', etc — and develop a solution with a strong ROI that frequently does not require extensive upfront capital. 

How does SIS’s Paid-from-Savings program work?
Unfortunately savings are often promised to customers but not achieved. Therefore, we often engage customers through shared success programs where we will reduce the upfront capital requirements in exchange for a percent of the monthly savings reconciled against their utility bill. Customers appreciate the transparency in this type of agreement and the assurance that our solutions will deliver as promised.

Can you tell us about SIS’s project with Nomaco Insulation?
Nomaco Insulation is a manufacturer based in Tarboro, NC operating a 500,000-square-foot facility. As their President told us, energy costs were not even in their 'Top 10' five years ago but now energy has become a big challenge. Therefore, we developed a comprehensive solution that included upgrading building systems, installing a new smart meter with an energy monitoring system, developing a statistical tool to manage demand charges more effectively, and launching an internal 'green team' to engage employees with energy reduction. The results have been impressive, a 30% reduction in energy costs with a <2 year payback.

Is the Paid-from-Savings program tailored for individual companies?
Every business, especially industrial companies but even commercial offices, have unique needs. Therefore, our solutions are highly tailored to maximize financial and sustainability returns.

Lime Energy Co. has released a White Paper that takes an in-depth look at the President Obama’s $4 Billion public and private building energy retrofit initiative. Comprised of two separate components, the Clinton-Obama program allocates $2 billion in energy retrofits for Federal Buildings and $2 billion in funding and energy retrofit components for Corporations, Universities and Hospitals.

Lime’s White Paper examines the aggressive goals set by the initiative and addresses several aspects that are integral to implementing successful clean energy measures. These include financing options, the role of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and policy prescriptions that can address common barriers. The White Paper goes on to examine why companies would consider making voluntary energy efficiency commitments and concludes that cutting unnecessary energy expenses not only boosts corporate profits but also leads to higher valuations as a result of better financial performance.

The 2012 North Carolina Energy Code — a substantial step forward in saving energy, reducing monthly electric bills for home and business owners, and retaining and creating jobs — become enforceable March 1. NCSEA was instrumental in getting these codes for new construction passed which will, on average, reduce energy consumption in new homes by 15 percent and in new commercial buildings by 30 percent.

The implementation of the codes marks an important milestone for NCSEA. For almost two years of tremendous work through collaborations and partnerships, the NC General Assembly approved the codes last summer. "It’s extremely rewarding to see these codes take effect," said Julie Robinson, NCSEA's Director of Government Affairs. "Many people, organizations and businesses deserve a lot of credit, and we’d like to take this opportunity to recognize a few  – Gov. Bev Perdue and her staff, the NC Home Builders Association and our valuable high performance (green) builders, Chad Ray of Olde Heritage Builders, Chris Mathis of Mathis Consulting, Jeff Tiller with Appalachian State University and NC Sierra Club."

The 2012 building codes deliver significant improvements in insulation levels, window performance and building envelope air leakage reduction. The new residential code also includes the High Efficiency Residential Option (HERO) Appendix, which will result in a 30% improvement in minimum energy efficiency over our state’s last energy code. Click here to view all new codes for NC.

Self-Help Credit Union is offering $15 million in low-interest loans for energy-efficiency projects in Charlotte and other cities. Over 50 economic developers, energy professionals and others attended the Feb. 16 launch of the program in Charlotte.

The event was as part of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association's Clean Energy Connections education series. NCSEA's Communications & Government Affairs Specialist, Amneris Solano, spoke with Melissa Malkin-Weber, Green Initiatives Manager at Self-Help Credit Union, about the program. 

More businesses are seeing the benefits of adopting energy efficient practices. Has that lead to the need for this kind of loan program? 

The Self-Help Energy Loan Fund is exciting because it opens the door to energy efficiency to those borrowers who might have not been considering it at all. For instance, where a small-business is borrowing for working capital, we can help them improve their efficiency by upgrading their old T12 lights or inefficient HVAC.

Why should building owners take advantage of this program?

There are still a lot of disincentives that prevent even very savvy property managers from making energy investments in their buildings. For instance, they may have scoped out great projects with very strong return on investment over time, but it’s hard to make that investment when there’s economic uncertainty. Small businesses face the additional disincentive that they may not have staff with enough bandwidth and resources to identify the best energy investments. We hope that the reduced-cost financing will encourage building owners to take a second look at their energy investment opportunities.

How does this loan program allow businesses to meet their energy savings goals?

One of our key goals is to reduce the cost barrier to implementation. Because of Bank of America’s funding and leadership, we will be able to offer a 1.5 percent interest rate discount through the Self-Help Energy Loan Fund.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized Fort Bragg with the Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) award for taking an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single source. U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine in Palms, Calif. also received the award.

By using CHP technology, the award winners demonstrated leadership and a commitment to protecting people's health and the environment while reporting annual energy savings of $6.8 million.

“I congratulate these military bases for leading by example in the efforts to reduce pollution, improve energy efficiency, and cut energy costs,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “These advanced CHP systems give us reliable, clean and cost cutting ways to keep our military bases powered and our environment protected.”

The CHP awards were presented Feb. 8 at the International District Energy Association’s Annual Campus Energy Conference in Arlington, Va. CHP technology produces both electricity and steam/hot water from a single heat source, using fuels such as natural gas, biomass, or wasted energy. By using this technology, the bases' CHP systems achieved operating efficiencies of nearly 65 percent, much higher than the efficiency of separate production of electricity and thermal energy (typically less than 50 percent). Based on this comparison, the CHP systems avoided carbon pollution equal to that from the electricity used by more than 4,000 homes.

The CHP systems also increase the bases’ energy security and reliability because the systems can run independently in the event of a power outage. As the largest U.S. energy consumer, DoD recognizes that reliable energy supplies for its military installations are critical to our nation’s security. Established in 2001, EPA’s CHP Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages the use of CHP to reduce the environmental impact of power generation. The partnership works closely with energy users, the CHP industry, state and local governments, and other energy stakeholders to facilitate the development of new projects and to promote energy, environmental and economic benefits.

With its energy-efficient lighting and a dual-flush toilet system that reduces cold water usage by 88 percent in the bathrooms, the new Rockingham County Courthouse complex is being touted as one of the leaders in green construction along the East Coast, the Greensboro News and Record says.

Lawns are irrigated with “reclaimed” water and prime parking spaces are marked for low-emission vehicles, the newspaper reported.

The $34 million building is the first judicial center on the East Coast to meet the benchmark for the construction of green buildings, as determined by the U.S. Green Building Council. The county is the first to earn the group’s gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, an internationally recognized symbol of excellence, according to the paper.

“It’s quite an achievement,” said Ashley Katz, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit told the newspaper. The commendation recognizes energy-efficiency, the use of resources and design innovations. It rewards cost-cutting and reducing carbon footprints.