Green strategies for a challenging economy

While shortsighted decision makers may think that greening strategies should be the first to go as the economy weakens, they are making a big mistake. All companies are looking for ways to reduce costs now, but smart money will be investing in the cuts that keep on giving, by creating more efficient buildings. After all, what is efficiency but doing more with less? While uncertainty may be the economic watchword of the moment, one thing you can count on is that the cost of energy and water will continue to rise. Unlike cutting jobs or most other expenses, efficiency measures do not reduce performance and can quickly pay back the cost of achieving them. The savings recur year after year and even increase in value as energy and water prices rise. In addition, especially in N.Y. and N.J. there are significant state incentives that will help underwrite the cost of energy efficiency upgrades, providing quicker payback on projects that offer greater savings. As new development slows, smart real estate owners should be aggressively investigating no and low cost opportunities in their existing buildings that can provide fast savings and an excellent return on investment. Adobe Systems Incorporated pursued this strategy on their three headquarters buildings in San Jose, Calif. with extraordinary results. Over the course of seven years, Adobe completed 64 projects, spending close to $1.4 million, receiving $389,000 in rebates, and reducing annual operating costs by $1.2 million. This represents an average nine-month payback with a return on investment of 121%. Many projects involved only changes in operations and cost almost nothing. Some examples include reduced run-time for garage exhaust fans, reduced on-time for outside lights, modifying cooling tower staging and sequencing, optimizing boiler control programming and run times, locating and correcting a chilled water pump control issue, rescheduling parking garage lighting and initiating an ongoing building tune-up program. The total costs for those projects were under $12,000 with saving of almost $500,000 and a combined return on investment (ROI) of over 4,000%. Others projects involved an upfront expense but offered very quick paybacks and good return on investment. Examples included re-lamping over 6,000 fixtures with lower wattage lamps for an ROI of 111%, converting over 250 incandescent to fluorescent bulbs for an ROI of 291%, installing an adjustable frequency drive on a chiller for an ROI of 163% and installing HVAC occupancy sensors in the file storage and conference rooms for a ROI of 140%. Adobe was able to achieve much higher savings over time by bundling upgrades with longer paybacks with others that offered a much quicker return on investment. It is tempting to "skim" the best projects when under severe economic pressures but you'll be losing an opportunity to achieve much higher savings while still achieving an excellent return. So how do you get started? Hire an outside expert to work closely with your building staff to evaluate your utility consumption of both energy and water and do a detailed audit of your existing systems. The return on that investment will be huge. It is critical to bring in third party expertise to provide a fresh and knowledgeable look at how your building operates, but it is equally important to make sure that building management takes ownership of the process and integrates everything they learn into your permanent building operations. Once you've established your baseline, a variety of conservation measures can be analyzed (including costs and payback) and a menu of energy and water saving options created for decision by ownership. So make sure, as you consider your options for reducing costs, you think green.... Efficiency measures can provide an excellent return on investment, improve the marketability of your buildings, and last but not least, significantly reduce your impact on global climate change. Pamela Lippe is president e4, inc., New York, N.Y.