Energy@Work's November Newsletter: News and Views

We were thrilled to hear the glowing comments from Linda Leistner, Property Manager of Berkeley Castle on the support she received from her “Energy Professional”: Energy@Work.

Her results are amazing and a tribute to her focus on doing things correctly, such as 3rd party commissioning of a new BAS, LED, operational changes and real time monitoring. The collective electricity savings were over 1,855,000 kWh, and she received an Energy Star Building Certification from NRCan! – exceptional results and especially impressive from a historic building.

"Energy@Work is the company that has worked tirelessly with us to make sure all this happened, and we could never have achieved these goals without them."

Linda Leistner (Berkeley Castle Tenant Update, July 2021)

 
Similarly, Lee Hodgkinson, Head of Sustainability & Technical Services at Dream Unlimited, shared the value of real time monitoring to identify operational opportunities. This is a cornerstone of our Energy Management Action Plan (E-MAP). The opportunities that are gleaned through understanding building systems using the Current Facility Requirements leads to savings which can be achieved and sustained. An excellent example was a DREAM Property that saved over $37,000 in electricity, verified by Toronto Hydro.

Finally, Justin Taylor, COO of Greenrock, also supported the value that operators provide when they are supported and given the tools they need. The operational savings and increased asset value were proven through 365 Bloor Street E’s E-MAP. A Commercial Office success story. Greenrock achieved BOMA BEST Platinum certification and won the BOMA Toronto Earth Award, they then went on to win the BOMA National Earth Award – we are cheering them on for the upcoming international award!

The bottom line is the People, Process and Product trifecta. People drive change. Process, such as our E-MAP, provides the path. Products such as real time monitoring, are the tools needed to build the foundation that achieves and sustains these impressive results. Energy@Work is pleased to have been a part of these successes and especially appreciated the shout out from Justin!

By working together, we make a difference in attacking climate change and making a difference!


Energy@Work was invited to share our experience in verifying electricity savings during the pandemic. ASHRAE’s Halifax chapter hosted the hybrid in-person/virtual event on Wednesday, November 17th, 2021.

ASHRAE’s network supports professionals with a vast array of industry experience. These events are a great opportunity to share significant achievements through case studies. When COVID hit in 2020, it was a challenge to defend electricity efficiency savings from occupancy reduction. Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO) provided the Guidelines and RETScreen provided the tools we needed to achieve $3.2 million in electricity savings that Toronto Hydro verified, across 21 commercial offices.

We were happy to take part, share our experience and encourage future collaboration!
 


BOMA Canada recently announced the revisioning of BOMA BEST Certification. Energy@Work has been invited to participate in the review process and had Beta tested the previous version, 3.0.

The updated version, BOMA BEST 4.0, will include an online platform available for Q3/4 of 2022.
The existing Version 3.0 online platform will close on December 31st, 2022. If you would like to obtain BOMA BEST 3.0 Certification, the verification request must be received by October 1st, 2022.

Lisa Liang is on the BOMA Canada Technical Committee and available to answer any questions or pass along your feedback.


The Holiday Challenge presents an opportunity for Landlords and Tenants to increase awareness around wasted electricity and reduce kWh use during the holiday period.
- we look forward to your participation!

This year’s 4th annual challenge will help raise awareness on, and mitigate, how much electricity is wasted over the holidays due to:
* systems continuing to run when not needed,
* lighting remaining on, particularly accent and interior lobby lighting,
* TV screens and monitors have off switches which are rarely used in lieu of “standby mode”,
* exercise equipment “in the ready mode” but sitting idle,
* plug load or what is commonly called “Phantom Power” is a huge opportunity

This year’s challenge will take place between:

6:00 PM Friday, December 17th, 2021 to 6:00 AM Tuesday, January 4th, 2022.

Last year’s challenge was a huge success with participation from over 30 commercial buildings achieving an average kWh reduction of 6% (376,000 kWh). There was no reported capital expense and the savings are equivalent to 32 homes' electricity use for one year!

Upon receipt of your approval to participate, a participant toolkit will be shared including ‘tips and tricks’ to reduce ‘phantom power’ as well as our “tips and tricks” video. The property with the greatest percentage kWh reduction during the challenge period, compared to the baseline (6:00PM Friday November 26th, 2021 - 6:00 AM Tuesday, December 14th, 2021), will be the Champion of the 4th Annual Holiday Challenge (prize to follow)!

We look forward to another great challenge and your participation for the chance to be the greatest reducer!

Any questions/comments can be directed to: holidaychallenge@energy-efficiency.com


BOMA Toronto invited Energy@Work to share case study examples of putting ACTION into an ENERGY MANAGEMENT PLAN (EMP).

Case studies and years of experience were used provide examples from:
Madison Properties
Northam Realty
Greenrock and other stories that were all: NON-FICTION

E-MAP achieved numerous national and international awards for achievements that obtained 3rd party verification.


The October GAM cost is $0.46 billion.
 
Energy@Work provides a regular review of GAM cost and continues to ask “why?” and, this time, why did it drop almost in half?

GAM costs are largely Nuclear (OPG and non-OPG). However, conservation continues to be reported as the reason for GAM although there was a drastic reduction in support according to the Canadian Efficiency Alliance!

Score Card:
https://www.scorecard.efficiencycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Ontario-1.pdf

With less support for Energy Efficiency, it is important to develop your own Energy Management Action Plan or E-MAP and include a Global Adjustment strategy.
Energy@Work’s services includes a “GAM coach”. We maintain the importance of a GAM Strategy for either Class A or Class B in order to win the (GAM)e. Our collective savings have exceeded $10 million.


In this month’s M&V Focus, EVO took a deep dive into Energy@Work’s use of EVO Guidelines to verify electricity saving during the pandemic. The real savings achieved at Menkes’s 4711 Yonge Street commercial office were explored to show how RETScreen, NRE and NRA were used. The article highlights the work put forth by 4711 Yonge which achieved savings, as well as the obstacles in verifying savings during the COVID period. EVO’s Guidelines allowed 3rd party verification for an incentive payment under the OPSaver Pay for Performance (P4P) program. An excellent team effort!


To her growing list of talents, Lisa Liang can now add Certified Sustainability (ESG) Practitioner!

As Energy@Work’s in-house ESG expert, Lisa has the latest information, tools, and resources to provide strategies and upscales to corporate sustainability.

A formal ESG Plan and strategy has become a fundamental component to corporate sustainability planning. It ensures that a company’s practices align with their environmental and social goals to drive long term value and achieve reduction targets- not to mention the economic value!

Contact Lisa Liang to find out more about setting up your ESG strategy!


Stay tuned, stay connected and stay safe!

We thank everyone that has provided feedback and for your comments: positive and negative!

We appreciate to hear your thoughts and welcome your feedback on how we can improve and/or include other areas of interest to you, please email: Requests@Energy-Efficiency.com

Thank You:
-
Energy@Work