"If you get caught in one of those spikes, that's not good." Shawn Rash of American Energy Solutions contends that just a little bit of attention to energy management can yield outsized returns.In one example, a company was able to save considerable money with a very low investment simply by auditing its bill management and reducing late fees. In another example , this one of a pet food company, a historical study of energy bills was able to uncover huge differences in the average cost of energy at the company's various locations, ultimately learning that some locations were needlessly leaving ovens on all the time, whether they were in use or not. Other efforts have included an infrastructure advisory for new construction, getting the utility company to move things around for better efficiency, negotiating a $650,000 reduction in utilities for a food processor, and finding a seven-year refund and ongoing tax exemption for a grocery store.
American Energy Solutions was able to save ABB's plant in South Boston, Va., $104,700 annually, amounting to a 20% reduction in energy costs. After that initial success, the same ABB plant decided to evaluate its lighting. With a switch to LED lighting, ABB saved more than $45,000 just from the Energy Policy Act (EPAct), and another $21,000 through a retirement-of-current-fixtures tax benefit.
In addition to the tax and energy savings, the ABB plant saved more than 5.6 million pounds of CO2 emissions. Although it was a greater initial investment, switching to LED lights rather than an interim fluorescent move saved more than a million pounds more of CO2 emissions.
Rash contends that choosing the right partner can help you find the energy savings. "You can start picking off five or six projects that you can do," he said. "And then the next year, there will be an even better payback as energy prices go up and material costs go down."