Businesses getting energy efficient
A ballerina hovers on stage at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. The PAC has invested thousands of dollars in recent years to become more energy efficient, including the lighting in the theaters and in the lobbies. The nonprofit that runs the PAC said the efforts have proven a savings of more than $100,000 a year.
Photo/Adam Elliott/For the Journal
The lights go up and the performers hit the stage … and then again, more than a thousand times a year. Just think of the electricity bill with lights across 176,000 square feet of space.
But the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts has worked to cut its utility bill, undergoing an energy efficiency program that has saved the nonprofit more than $100,000 a year in electricity alone.
Officials at the PAC have done extensive renovations for the past decade or more.
PAC President Nancy Harbour and her recently retired plant manager, Gene Dale, originally realized their contract to manage the building on behalf of the city was becoming too difficult to keep up without some real efficiency changes.
“Honestly, we could look into the future and realize that if we didn’t do something we would be in serious trouble financially,” said Harbour.
They developed a conservation plan that started with simple steps like wattage reduction and photo cells both inside and outside. They substituted fluorescent lights and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for incandescent lights. LED strip lighting was added to the lobbies. Mercury vapor fixtures in the dock area and backstage were replaced with other fluorescent fixtures with motion detectors.
These simple steps worked. Harbour said the center has saved more than $100,000 annually in electricity. In some years, it was much more.
“Then we took some serious actions and installed a heat exchanger in the south side of the building,” she said.
There is also a very aggressive air filter replacement plan plus regular calibration and testing on major equipment. Air is also handled through an automated control system.
Continuous progress included timers in all the dressing rooms, toilets and showers. There are motion sensors throughout the building. A remote cooler was installed to reduce chiller time in the sound rack and amp rooms.
A remote heat exchanger running on glycol helped move away from electric power chillers. Harbour said this system was a big deal for the center, costing $60,000 but is saving a minimum of $12,000 annually.
The center’s rental days and public performances almost doubled since the energy program started in 1997. Harbour said in that period of time the average cost of kilowatt hour went up 50.34 percent but the annual electricity costs went down 8 percent.
“So the bottom line is we saved kilowatt hours on a per year per rental day per public performance basis and over that period,” she said.
The next phase is new boilers next summer, which could save 30 percent of the costs associated with the building’s original ones, Harbour said.
She is also hopeful that technological improvements will allow converting theatrical lighting and the visual music art lighting on the exterior to LEDs.
“It’s one of those things we embrace because we not only want to be good citizens, but there’s not a lot of money to support upgrades of buildings so we want to try to do our share to make sure that the performing arts center is run as efficiently and effectively as possible. And we do it as individual citizens as well. We see it as our way to make things better here in this building and this community,” Harbour said.
Bigger savings can be done on a larger scale, too. The Juneau School District has saved more than $2 million, or about 28 percent, since the energy conservation program started in 2007.
The Juneau district’s program involves mandatory guidelines like turning off lights and equipment not in use, regulating building temperatures and making changes to current equipment and lights.
Small businesses can reap big savings too. The Bear Square in Anchorage revamped its air blower and motor system, since that was the biggest power drain. Light switches were connected to motion sensors while the exterior lighting was put on a new timer. Some lights, like Christmas tree lights, are controlled by photocells.
Other energy-saving tricks involve changing stoves from electric to gas and retrofitting fixtures for narrower, more efficient florescent lights.
Owner Mary Rohlfing said these modifications have resulted in average savings of $500 each month.
“So that’s quite a bit of money for a small building,” she said.
The Bear Square occupies 20,000 square feet divided into two floors. It employs 20 during the summer and half that during the off-season.
In Fairbanks, MacCheyne’s Carpet Plus has a similar view. Owner John MacCheyne said that cutting power costs for the 14,000-square-foot building are necessary due to the area’s high utility rates.
Most of his lights were recently changed to LEDs. There are plans for additional LED lights for an auxiliary warehouse.
MacCheyne consulted with Genesis Energy to understand how much the conversion from traditional and high-pressure lights would save. The savings are about $6,000 a year, judging from savings so far. He estimates the expense of the conversion will be paid off within three years, allowing the savings after that to go back into the business.
“In an area where energy is so expensive, businesses cannot afford to have that type of expense eating away at their bottom line,” he said.
Anchorage Municipal Light and Power General Manager Jim Posey said most businesses haven’t looked at energy conversions yet, although those that have retrofitted their homes or business have seen “phenomenal” savings. ML&P is working with other utilities to try to get the word out.
Utilities often encourage efficiency and even offer incentives. Fairbanks’ Golden Valley Electric Association has special conservation incentives. One is its Business$ense program offers rebates up to $20,000 to commercial business who revamp their electric systems. This is something that MacCheyne worked with for his operation.
However, the very conservation efforts utilities encourage can give everyone a little jolt later on, with higher rates.
GVEA grew by 3 percent in over the last three years. At the same time, it saw a 5 percent decline in consumption.
The overall costs for the utility remain the same, but when revenues decline – as a result of more efficient users – the utility may have to raise rates to compensate, said GVEA President and CEO Brian Newton
Jonathan Grass can be reached at jonathan.grass@alaskajournal.com.
Email
Print
Feed
