Monthly Archives: September 2020

PACE Can Be The Difference To Go Forward

You want to be more energy efficient, for any reason – you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce energy costs, improve the operating conditions and productivity of your staff. You have an existing building (only 1% of buildings in the US are “new”) and you know that there are opportunities to make it more energy efficient. But the problem is cash flow; you have to lay out money to install and operate the strategy. Yes, you will get the money laid out back in a short time, but with all the problems business are having with the pandemic (lost business, lost staff, lost customers and suppliers), cash for upfront payments is not always readily available.

Well, the good news is that with interest rates at historical lows (who would believe home mortgages at 2.65% interest!) it makes sense to borrow to be able to do an energy upgrade project now. If a modest energy project has a calculated rate of return of 15% per year, it would be crazy NOT to finance the project, if corporate loans are even 6 or 8% interest. In fact, lenders know that energy projects are the most reliable in terms of meeting the projected ROIs; they know the risk of non-payment is low. So lenders will compete with each other and lower rates to make energy loans!

Yet for owners of very old, poorer buildings, sometimes loans for energy projects are not available not allowing them to modernize. Enter PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy), the government-backed program created to simplify energy efficiency finance. In PACE, the building is the collateral, not the business. This opens the door to immense opportunity in the business case for energy efficiency.

PACE enables energy efficiency upgrades and/or solar or wind systems through long-term financing. PACE is useful for projects with long-term financing (20 years is typical), which is useful for project, such as whole building retrofits and large equipment replacements. Long-term loans with long-term benefits.

But this leads to a problem. What if the building owner wants to sell the property during the loan’s term? PACE programs work differently. The PACE loan is tied to the building; not the owner or business. The PACE loan is set up as a lien on the asset, the facility, and is structured as a tax, with the idea that the energy savings exceed the added expense, allowing the passing of the cost to tenants.

PACE loans are established by state and local governments. Property owners within the district can voluntarily choose to participate in the program. An energy expert assesses the scope of desired improvements, often through an energy audit to develop projects and cost estimates. PACE loans are commonly paid to the municipality who transfers the money to the lending institute. Payment usually occurs along with property taxes. Therefore, it may occur only twice per year. Banks may reject a building owner with large debts or a bad historic record or one that has been in bankruptcy. Building buyers must continue payment of the PACE loan after the borrower has sold the building.

PACE is an innovative approach and another financing option to assist building owners in paying for the often high-up front cost of energy efficiency projects. PACE is limited to areas that have implemented a PACE program, so it may not be available in many parts of the US. PACE financing is available in most of New York State for energy projects.

CCES has the experts to perform the upfront work to recommend smart energy solutions and to work with PACE or other banking officials to help you finance these potential energy efficiency projects. Contact us today for more information at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.

Energy Issues Affecting Data Centers

It is said that there currently are 200,000,000,000 internet of things (IoT) objects in the world today. Probably in a short time, we will think this number is quaint. Or perhaps technology will advance so much that more data can be stored on fewer objects and this number may drop. The amount of computing done in data centers more than quintupled between 2010 and 2018. Most of these devices need to perform computing and storage activities, meaning the need for IT data centers, whether relatively small ones in a company’s office or huge building-size data centers.
While in recent years, we have become dependent on the “cloud”, things are changing. Of course, data is not stored in a literal cloud. The “cloud” is one of a small number of huge data centers that stores yours and other’s data. A recent trend is edge data centers, smaller buildings and structures where computing and storage takes place located usually within only a few miles from where the data is generated.

According to https://energyinnovation.org/2020/03/17/how-much-energy-do-data-centers-really-use/, in 2014, US IT data center electricity usage was split nearly equally between server demand and the need for electricity to supply electricity to such centers and for cooling. As discussed above, physical data centers will only grow substantially in our complex times; thus the need for more electricity.

Electricity Usage

According to several sources, data centers use 1% of all of the world’s electricity consumption. This appears small but given the absence of data centers in many (poorer) parts of the world, this is significant. However, the rate of growth of electricity usage is slowing down due to energy efficiency. The good news is that servers and related equipment are being designed to use less electricity to compute or store data. And such equipment is available if one is replacing data servers or expanding.

Another problem is cooling. Many data centers have their own AC systems with thermostats set for low temperatures to prevent over-heating. In some cases, thermostats are set to keep temperatures of such rooms below 55⁰F. ASHRAE recommends that temperatures of rooms containing servers not be lower than 65°F. And, in fact, ENERGY STAR, the joint EPA/DOE program that evaluates energy usage of common equipment, has recommended servers that can be useful up until 95⁰F or greater. Certainly, one should be careful not to overheat your equipment. But one should look deeper into what that true temperature is. Another idea is not to necessarily cool a server room with an AC, but to use, instead, fans, which use less power, to force hot air away from servers and a stack of servers. Your IT professional should be able to recommend the right conditions for the long-term health of your IT Center.

Reliability

Many data centers feature back-up power systems in case their primary source of electricity is interrupted. Edge data centers, in particular, sometimes placed in urban and suburban areas, may be particularly vulnerable to sudden losses of power. An emergency engine generator to ensure that your data center continues to operate properly is good for the company, but does lead to more stringent emissions and noise requirements, such as particulate and other controls. Make sure the system you choose for backup power is right for your needs.

CCES has the experts to assess the energy usage of your IT or data centers, on or off- your physical location and recommend ways to save significant energy costs. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.

Clean Heat/Cooling Systems: Get Off Natural Gas

Just a few short years ago, natural gas was the way to go. We had to get off “dirty” oil or coal combustion to supply heat or power and switch to “clean” natural gas. After all, gas is cheaper, emits less greenhouse gases (GHGs) and toxic pollutants, is easier to maintain, and results in less wear and tear on equipment than oil or coal. Over the last decade many buildings made the switch to natural gas.

But, as it turned out, that led to problems. Despite plentiful natural gas due to fracking, some parts of the country developed shortages, particularly during cold winter periods. Also, while demand for natural gas grew, the infrastructure to bring gas to customers did not. As usual, infrastructure upgrades are not “sexy” and lag behind short-term growth.

Now, many utilities acknowledge that the necessary upgrades to gas infrastructure are too expensive and will take too long. For some, their coping strategy is to reduce natural gas demand – encourage buildings to get off gas and use other ways to heat.

Examples of other heating and cooling technologies include air source heat pumps (ASHPs), ground source heat pumps (GSHPs, or geothermal heat pumps), and solar hot water (SHW). These are proven technologies that have come down in price and are now incentivized in many places. They offer a number of benefits, including energy cost savings, increased comfort levels, and health benefits compared to gas combustion.

ASHPs provide efficient space heating and cooling to residential and commercial buildings, even in cold climates. An ASHP transfers heat from outside to inside a building, or vice versa, using a refrigerant involving a compressor and a condenser. Heat from outdoor air (even if cool) is absorbed by the refrigerant and released inside for heating. Similarly, heat from indoor air is transferred outdoors for cooling.

GSHPs also provide space heating and cooling, and, in some cases, using an indoor heat pump and a heat exchange ground loop buried underground to transfer heat between the ground and the building. Underground the temperature is normally constant around 51⁰F. That can be a source to cool indoor air in the summer or a source of warmth to bring to a building in the winter. Geology must be considered and space available to access the long piping needed to bring air back and forth from the building to an area below ground. The main energy use is electricity for fans, not a huge expenditure or greenhouse gas creator compared to gas combustion.

SHW collects thermal energy from the Sun to heat water for space heating, domestic hot water, and pool heating. Buildings that do not have sufficient roof space for a solar PV (electric) system may still have enough for SHW. Water is piped into an area below the SHW for heating. Solar air heating systems heat outside air drawn in. Temperature can be raised as much as 100⁰F before being ducted into the building’s HVAC system.

Historically, ASHPs and GSHPs have been quite expensive. Capital costs and O&M for such equipment have come down in recent years. In addition, many states and utilities offer robust monetary incentives to owners that install such systems, as they are trying to reduce their need to upgrade gas infrastructure and meet GHG reduction goals.

Given the challenges of gas and the gains in these technologies, it is worth it for a building owner to examine whether a “clean” technology is financially beneficial.

For those of you in Westchester County, NY considering clean heating & cooling technology, see https://sustainablewestchester.org/hscommercial/.

In Putnam County, NY, contact Bonnie@BrightEnergyServices.com to learn about the equipment and strong incentives.

CCES has the technical experts to help you determine whether you are a good candidate for a clean heating & cooling technology and whether it is financially beneficial to you in the short- and long-term to get rid of natural gas combustion and benefit from these systems. We can help you get the maximum incentives available. Contact us today at Karell@CCESworld.com or 914-584-6720.

How Lights Affect Your Health

This newsletter has had many articles about why your building should switch to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Electricity usage can be cut by 50 to 80% for the same amount of light depending on the original source of light. LEDs can be programmed to meet your needs (intensity, on-off/dimness, color temperature, etc.). And LED lights last much longer than fluorescent and incandescent lights, reducing the effort to replace bulbs or tubes in the ceiling, freeing up the maintenance crew for bigger projects and freeing up space and the number of backup lights in storage. However, with the growing concern about a healthy office environment, how can lights affect staff health and productivity?

There have been hundreds of studies done in the last 40 years showing links between long-term exposure to fluorescent lights and different negative health impacts. The basis of these problems is the quality of light that is emitted.

The theory is that humans have evolved based on light from the Sun. Artificial lights is a recent phenomenon, with the invention of electricity. Before that most light came from the Sun and our eyes and nervous system evolved to best use this source of light. However, with electricity and light bulbs people now have the ability to work at night and in spaces without windows. However, the light coming from an incandescent or fluorescent light is not the same light as that from the Sun.

The main difference is that the Sun exposes us to the full spectrum of visible light (all wavelengths) and many wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. Incandescents give off nearly the full visible spectrum, but not as much as sunlight. Fluorescents give off a limited spectrum. Of course, another difference is timing. Except for clouds (and even then some radiation reaches us), we are exposed to the Sun’s rays only during certain hours daily, which vary during the year. Artificial lights can be turned on at any time.

Many bodily functions depend on day-night cycles called circadian rhythms, developed by the daily rise and fall of the Sun. If one gets insufficient exposure to sunlight or gets exposed to lights at other times, one’s circadian rhythm may be affected which will alter a one’s hormones and body chemistry. Therefore, theoretically, getting less sunlight and more artificial lights can cause migraines, eye strain, sleep issues, depression, suppressed immune system, menstrual cycle disruption, anxiety, obesity, etc.

Besides the spectrum of wavelengths and length of time of exposure, another issue, specific with fluorescent lights is flickering. While such lights appear to be emitting light constantly, that is not true. Fluorescent lights are controlled by a ballast that pulses electricity. Therefore, light flickers. While it may not be detectible, our brains sub-consciously perceive the flicker, which departs from sunlight, contributing to migraines, anxiety, and other conditions.

How do LED lights do in regards to these factors? Fairly well. LED lights can be designed to emit the spectrum of wavelengths that one wants, including the full spectrum. Some manufacturers market LED bulbs that supposedly mimic sunlight’s spectrum. LED lights may flicker, but that is not due to the nature of the bulb (unlike a fluorescent), but due to the ballast feeding power.

A few years ago, the French equivalent to the US FDA issued a warning that intense light from LED bulbs can cause eye damage. However, that has not been corroborated in other studies. Currently, no country regulates LED lights vis-à-vis exposure.

In conclusion, it is best to light your office using sunlight, as much as possible, to mimic its rhythm to correspond to staff’s circadian rhythm. But if that is impossible, it is best to convert from incandescent and fluorescent lights to LEDs to get the full spectrum and minimize flickering.

CCES has the experts to help your facility to design and install the right lights to save you significant electricity costs and to help optimize your staff’s health and productivity and realize the savings and advantages to your business. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.