When a small business looks to save energy, the savings go straight to the bottom line. And those savings keep on giving: Once you’ve installed energy saving measures, it frees finances to pour back into your business.
Clark Public Utilities offers several commercial programs for businesses of all sizes. For several years, the utility has run a commercial lighting incentive program (CLIP) to help businesses wanting energy efficient lighting. So far this year, the utility has completed 112 CLIP projects and saved local businesses nearly $4.4 million.
“CLIP is a very popular program, and many customers use CLIP lighting incentives to help offset the initial cost of LED retrofit projects,” said Bill Hibbs, commercial programs manager for the utility. “However, once they’ve added efficient lighting to their business, they may want to consider our other programs for reducing energy use even more.”
Recently the utility expanded choices available for commercial and industrial customers to save energy. Clark Public Utilities’ current programs offer businesses ductless heat pumps (DHPs), web-enabled programmable thermostats and advanced rooftop control (ARC). Unlike the CLIP program, these don’t need a walkthrough, unless you’d like one.
Wild Flour Cafe and Cupcakes in Washougal and Vancouver-based contractor, Advanced Electronics installed DHPs this year that can reduce both heating and cooling costs. Each business installed a two-ton unit and qualified for the $250 per ton incentive. The ductless heat pump incentive will increase to $800 per ton when new commercial incentives come into effect next fall, said Hibbs.
Businesses can benefit from web-enabled programmable thermostats in the same way residential homes do. That’s especially true for buildings unoccupied a large part of the day. It’s also true for businesses that close on weekends or shut down for holidays. Businesses with web-enabled thermostats can remotely adjust building temperature. They can garner added energy savings by lowering the thermostat’s set point during long empty periods.
Currently, the utility incentive varies from $600 to $800 depending on the thermostat your business is replacing. But this is also likely to change during in the fall. During 2016, Cadet Manufacturing on West Fourth Plain Boulevard and Prestige Care, a senior living residence in east Vancouver, upgraded to web-enabled programmable thermostats to save on heating and cooling.
Business owners with larger buildings with rooftop fans may want to consider one of the retrofits available through the Advanced Rooftop Control program. The “lite” version of ARC replaces the supply-fan control only. The full version also replaces the economizer control. According to Hibbs, research shows the supply-fan control produces the larger savings.
To qualify, ARC installations must meet the Bonneville Power Administration program requirements, where the supply-fan has multiple or varied speed control that meets space condition needs. Full ARC projects also have to meet the needs of a digital, integrated economizer control. To start a project, the building must have a greater than five-ton capacity, a constant-speed supply-fan (not variable) that works continuously during business hours.
Incentives for ARC vary, the “lite” version offers $100 to $150 a ton incentive and the “full” version offers $150 to $225 per ton. Currently, Clark Public Utilities is running a pilot at Vancouver Mall to better understand the potential savings related to Advanced Rooftop Controls.
If your business needs a custom solution, a utility account manager, such as Hibbs, can come to your business to discuss your ideas, explain energy management tools or advise you about more ways to save energy and lower utility costs.
Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.
