During the blackout, Kevin Carter was forced to decamp his family to a Stamford hotel ”“ even as the power system he knocked together for his employer was generating electricity and hot water free of the grid ”“ and in the latter case, more than it can use.
The chief operating officer of Stepping Stones Museum for Children plans to take advantage of his newfound surplus of hot water ”“ if he can scrape together the funding.
Earlier this year, Stepping Stones Museum won LEED Gold status from the U.S. Green Building Council, in recognition of its efforts to improve the Norwalk institution”™s energy efficiency. Those measures include a wind turbine, LED lighting and a solar hot-water system ”“ made possible by funding from the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund. Next up for the museum, Carter says, is a system to siphon off heat from the hot water its solar panels are producing.
Despite Stepping Stones”™ impressive efforts and those of other Connecticut businesses and nonprofits, however, Connecticut failed to charge back up a ranking published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, though Connecticut held onto a spot in the top 10.
Massachusetts topped the council”™s 2011 scorecard published last month, with California second, New York third and with Michigan having made the biggest strides in the past year.
Connecticut spent $127 million last year on electricity efficiency programs, according to the council, or about 2.2 percent of the state”™s revenue. Vermont and Massachusetts led the nation on that front, with Vermont spending 4.6 percent of its revenue on electricity efficiency and Massachusetts 3.7 percent.
Nationwide, states increased budgets for electricity-efficiency programs by a third or more than $1 billion total.
“If you look into the (council”™s) numbers you see an interesting story,” said Tom Santa, CEO of Bridgeport-based Santa Energy Corp. “Our biggest shortfall is in efficiency programs and policies. If the state adopted aggressive energy-savings targets we would have jumped (from No. 8 to No. 5). The governor has declared that energy efficiency is a primary goal and he has appointed an impressive group of people to his administration so I am confident we will move in the right direction.”
In the past several weeks, Connecticut has freed up an additional $5 million for a range of alternative energy programs.
For businesses trying to help themselves by ”“ well, helping themselves ”“ the first step is always getting data on their energy consumption, according to Stephen Hughes, an account executive with Greenwich Energy Solutions, which has offices in Greenwich and New York City.
“Often just having the consumption figures laid out in front of people causes them to use energy more wisely and cut down on unnecessary waste,” Hughes said. “The EPA and Energy Star offer a free tool which, with a little time and effort, can give most buildings a general sense of what they are using and how they compare to other facilities of a similar type.”
Also available, Hughes added, are inexpensive software programs from Greenwich Energy Solutions and other companies that monitor a building”™s consumption on an ongoing basis, alerting owners and occupants to any anomalies in consumption as well as improving general awareness of energy use.
“But of course, the behavior only goes so far and when it comes to getting the best bang for your buck out of energy improvements, some of the money best spent is on energy audits and building commissioning,” Hughes added. “An audit will generate a more in-depth view of how your building is consuming energy and the commissioning will systematically identify and correct deficiencies in the mechanical systems and calibrate them to run specifically according to the building”™s operational needs, greatly improving overall efficiency. While these processes often result in recommendations for capital improvements, they do not in and of themselves require such investments to see an increase in efficiency and thus overall savings.”
Between the blackout and Tropical Storm Irene, Carter has already had ample opportunity to see how Stepping”™ Stones recent steps add up. Thankfully, the turbine held up in the face of Irene”™s gusts.
“We just let it go,” Carter said.
