By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director
What if I told you how to promote efficient energy use, become a responsible environmental steward and reduce your risk of school facility damage - while earning extra money? It seems too good to be true. But this year we decided to pilot a program with our energy curtailment partner, ClearChoice Energy, that does exactly this for schools in northern Illinois.
The program we're piloting, known as Demand Response, is designed to encourage large consumers (in this case, schools) to reduce energy use during days of peak energy demand. (For example, a school may be asked to cut back on their energy use on a particularly hot summer day when the energy grid is strained by lots of consumers running their air conditioners.) By doing so, the school will help reduce the need to build additional energy transmission lines and power plants, increase energy reliability in their community and develop plans to reduce risk from periods of sudden energy loss. And did I mention that schools get paid to do this?
The first test of the 2009 program was last week: one of the schools involved in our Demand Response program was asked to cut back on energy use. So I decided to head out to Nippersink School District #2 to speak to Dr. Paul Hain, the district's business manager, to get a feel for what it’s like to shut down a school's power on a day when it’s 100 degrees outside.
Check out a video of the school and Paul's comments on the experience:
A couple of things stood out to me: First, it wasn’t hard at all. This school is an older building that didn’t have automated controls, so they turned off the AC and the lights manually – not a big deal. They just needed someone to be in charge. That was Paul. As he told me, it just required a little coordination and communication. And if you have a new building with automatic controls, it’s even easier.
Second, the element of coordination was key, particularly with the IT staff. It became clear that the IT manager had to be in the loop because they shut down all their computers – even their servers. But the IT manager thought it was great to be part of the team that was saving money and helping the community. And he’d rather be part of the planning process for this type of program than be taken by surprise by an energy brownout or blackout.
Third, the combination of incentives does make this a compelling program. While no single incentive drives this program alone, the combination of receiving cash rebates, reducing energy use, being a responsible community partner, promoting environmental stewardship and reducing risk to property damage all make it an interesting and compelling program. I’m sure any school that participates will list the benefits in a different order of priority but, taken as a whole, the program can appeal to a broad range of school stakeholders.
I was glad to be part of Paul’s successful test of the program and hope that next year we’ll be able to expand this program to more schools. In the meantime, if you think your school may be interested in this, take a moment to learn more about Demand Response. It’s not for everyone, but it may play a complementary role to other green programs or money-saving efforts at your school.
Check out this article from Reuters on a similar topic:
More Schools Turn to Energy Efficiency as Economy Slips
Reuters
By Adveith Nair
April 14, 2009
BANGALORE, April 14 (Reuters) - Hit hard by the global economic slowdown, more educational institutions in the United States are participating in energy efficiency programs to reduce expenses and earn additional revenue.
Companies like CPower, EnerNOC Inc and Comverge Inc -- called demand-response companies for their role in limiting electricity use during peak demand -- employ technology that manage large companies' power usage and control their costs.
"Given the fact that either endowments have gone down or just the very tough economic conditions, we have seen a big increase in educational institutions looking to participate," Matthew Plante, regional director for PJM at EnerNOC told Reuters.
Software used by demand-reponse companies can automatically adjust an air conditioner's temperature or turn off a swimming pool pump when power supplies are tight.
Utilities pay such companies for managing a certain amount of capacity on their demand-response network. The company then passes on part of the money to end-users who agree to limit consumption when required.
Gary Fromer, chief executive of privately held CPower said schools, like any other enterprise in the current economic environment, are looking to find as many opportunities as possible to fund personnel, close budget gaps and execute existing and new projects.
According to latest data available from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, educational buildings represented as much as 12.5 percent of all U.S. commercial building energy consumption, Ardour Capital analyst Richard Baxter said. Depending upon the amount of power curtailed, educational institutions, for instance, can earn anywhere from $2000 to as much as $30,000 a year. This money can be used to fill in budget deficits, or even be put back into further energy efficiency programs.
Patrick Moran, business administrator at the Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission (MRESC), in Piscataway, New Jersey said given the economic climate, it was important for schools to find innovative ways to reduce costs without cutting corners.
In March, the MRESC enlisted CPower to manage energy consumption for 12 school districts served by it. About 20 schools within these districts will use the company's solutions to reduce energy consumption.
MINIMIZING IMPACT ON DEMAND
Ardour's Baxter said institutional groups like educational universities had large loads, and so utilities were interested in finding ways to minimize their impact on overall demand.
"If it is done in a way which helps that customer reduce costs, then all the better. And with the strain that a lot of customers like that are finding themselves in nowadays, they are definitely looking for creative ways to save energy and money," Baxter said.
EnerNOC's Plante said the company worked with about 200 educational institutions throughout the country. "With 150 to 200 customers, we're talking about at least 100 megawatt (MW) of power under management which is made up of schools and universities."
A megawatt under management is a megawatt that the company can curtail and for which it can start earning revenue within about a month's time. One megawatt of power can serve about 800 average U.S. homes.
EnerNOC reported over 2,500 MW under management as of the end of its fourth quarter, while CPower, which was known as ConsumerPowerline until last September, has about 2000 megawatts (MW) under management.
Plante said this "sizeable" market had witnessed considerable growth. "It's now a market we are very much focussed on," he said, adding that schools as well as municipalities and public institutions were taking a harder look at demand response across the company's markets.
CPower's Fromer said many schools, both universities and municipal educational programs, have the ability to work with the company on both demand response and energy efficiency programs.
He added schools could typically curtail anywhere between 100 kilowatts (kw) to 500 kw of power for larger schools. "For an entire school district, with a multitude of facilities, those numbers can add up to something material."
CPower also has a variety of schools, including both intermediate school districts as well as higher educational institutions, participating with it. Fromer expects more such programs in the future.
"I think we'll see more from the MRESC in New Jersey as well as around the country where we offer programs."
Both Fromer and Plante also said many customers used demand response revenue to execute energy efficiency projects that they might not have otherwise budgeted for.
To make participation in demand response even more lucrative, states like New Jersey offer supplemental payouts for first time participants. This coupled with the fact that being energy conscious fits in with a "green movement" happening in many campuses also helps.
EnenrNOC's Plante said the company had seen some increase in participation due to New Jersey's recent "master energy plan," which includes a supplemental payment for end-users participating in demand response for the first time.
"It's a great market and it's just starting to open up."
As a note of disclosure, I work at EnerNOC, and working with school systems is one of my favorite parts of the job. I'd encourage all schools to research demand response opportunities. You can visit http://www.enernoc.com/about/where-we-operate.php to see if EnerNOC DR is available in your state.
Posted by: Sarah McAuley | July 02, 2009 at 01:02 PM