Metrus does many things for our customers, chief among them is helping make their buildings more energy efficient and resilient. It’s work that we find gratifying on many levels. Not only do the efficiency upgrades save money and reduce CO2 emissions, they also greatly improve the health of the indoor work environment.

Creating and maintaining healthy buildings is critically important. Just how important? The EPA claims that the average American spends up to 87 percent of their time indoors, inside buildings.

According to ACEEE & Physicians for Social Responsibility, reducing annual electricity use by 15% nationwide would save more than six lives every day, prevent nearly 30,000 asthma episodes each year, and save Americans up to $20 billion through avoided health harms annually.

The impact buildings have on the environment, however, is not widely understood by the general public. GRESB recently conducted word-association research - using terms people might relate to when thinking about a healthier world. At the bottom of the list was “green buildings.” Only 11% of the survey takers associated that phrase with strongly relating to the environment.

We wanted to hear firsthand from some of our customers about the impact their efficiency upgrades have had on their people and their workplaces.

“Metrus’ ESA has helped the hospital achieve significant economic and environmental value,” said Gregg Oishi, CFO of Kuakini Medical Center. “The higher efficiency cooling systems have increased our patients comfort-level, and we’ve heard from both patients and staff alike on the improved lighting throughout the hospital.”

Ron Fujihara, Manager, Maintenance for Kuakini noted that “this project helped us exceed requirements set forth by the Joint Commission (on healthcare) for humidity and temperature levels in sterile and clean areas and operating rooms. This gets to the core of our mission of taking care of our patients by giving them the healthiest environment as possible.”

Metrus began working with Wells College is 2018. Marian Brown, Director, Center for Sustainability and the Environment at Wells told us: “As the project (construction) work winds down, we have received early feedback that our library staff is VERY pleased with the improved quality of the lighting in their spaces, especially the Learning Commons.”

Another customer had this to say: “The project has gone a long way to increasing the comfort of patients and workers. Maintenance calls to adjust temperature or lighting levels has gone down by well over 50%.” Bristol Hospital, Director of Facilities, Tom Roche

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Did you know that today is Energy Efficiency Day? You can be forgiven if you didn’t. After all, why designate just one day to this worthy cause when the other 364 days should also be about celebrating savings and striving to avoid waste? Some recent reports by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) help us understand just what energy efficiency means in terms of energy supply, climate, job and health benefits.

What about meeting our energy demand? The savings from energy efficiency efforts are staggering. Energy efficiency alone could provide one-third of total expected electricity generation needs by 2030, avoiding the need for an additional 487 power plants. U.S. electricity use has remained constant in recent years even as the economy grew, thanks to energy efficiency.

What about mitigating climate change? Energy efficiency investments can cut U.S. energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050, getting us halfway to our national climate goals. Achieving this level of savings would be worth more than $700 billion in 2050.

What about creating jobs? Energy efficiency employs 2.25 million people in the US today –more than the number of people who work in the coal, oil, gas, electricity and even renewable energy industries combined. We are proud to employ a small portion of those two-plus million people here at Metrus and across the 26 different states where we operate our ESA projects.

What about protecting our health? Reducing annual electricity use by 15% nationwide would save more than six lives every day, prevent nearly 30,000 asthma episodes each year, and save Americans up to $20 billion through avoided health harms annually.

Enjoy Energy Efficiency Day -- and let’s work to make it a yearlong celebration each and every year.

Climate Week will involve a sober look at where we are today and the herculean efforts required to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Major policies and incentives are clearly needed to help us in this fight. But we also must keep in mind simple solutions, including one bipartisan legislative fix that’s sitting on the desk of lawmakers in Washington right now.

This specific item addresses the “retail glitch” that occurred due to a last-minute drafting error in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Acts (TCJA). Although the tax bill wasn’t focused on energy efficiency, lawmakers intended to include a common-sense change that would have shortened the depreciation period for purchasing new building equipment, effectively encouraging capital investments. Instead, the bill accidentally failed to update the old depreciation period, which threatens to stymie investments in newer, more efficient equipment and significantly hurt climate change efforts for years to come.

We are running out of time to fix it. The drafting error will have a significant, adverse impact on energy efficiency investments if it isn’t fixed by the end of 2019.

As background, a category of business investments called Qualified Improvement Property (QIP) was inadvertently omitted from the 15-year equipment category which would have made it eligible for 100 percent bonus depreciation – meaning a company could immediately deduct its entire value from taxable income. This error, dubbed the “retail glitch” since it impacts the remodeling of non-residential buildings, affects virtually all types of energy-intensive building equipment such as refrigeration, HVAC, lighting and other components.

The required correction is to simply add QIP to the 15-year equipment category, as originally intended. Many efficiency upgrades (such as LED lights) have useful lives of 5 to 15 years but are currently forced to be depreciated at 39 years due to this mistake. This makes no sense in terms of the actual useful life of efficiency equipment – and effectively discourages building owners from replacing old, inefficient equipment with newer, high-efficiency models.

If this mistake isn’t fixed, companies will start to pay a de facto penalty to upgrade their facilities to be energy efficient in 2020. For example, on a typical $5 million 5-year LED lighting project, taxes will account for 70% of net cash flows if unfixed and only 10% if fixed. In short, this drafting error increases the tax burden on energy efficiency investments sevenfold. This means a project that would have otherwise eliminated 9,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions – the equivalent of taking 1,600 cars off the road – will go undone. When you scale this missed opportunity to the national level, you get a sense of just what is at stake. A new report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that energy efficiency can cut U.S. energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050, getting us halfway to U.S. climate goals.

The good news is this is truly a simple fix. The bad news is that in our current political climate, we are at risk that even this straightforward change will get caught up in broader partisan battles.

Fortunately, groups like the Alliance to Save Energy, ACEEE and the Real Estate Roundtable have been working hard behind the scenes to address this issue. Metrus Energy is proud to be part of these efforts and we appreciate the lawmakers who have taken the time to meet and respond to us over the last several months. However, with less than 35 working days for Congress in 2019, the time to act is now. Mitigating the impacts of climate change will require a lot of work, fixing this glitch will not. Let’s hope that Congress doesn’t pass up this empty netter in the fight against climate change.

This article was originally published by the Alliance to Save Energy

Extreme weather events and natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, polar vortexes, and hurricanes are wreaking havoc on buildings, the electric grid, and other critical US infrastructure. In the wake of these events, many people are asking: how can we make our systems more resilient?

This question is extremely important, but with no common definition of resilience, answers vary widely. Resilience is often viewed as a system’s ability to withstand and recover from serious events. This broad definition can be applied to an individual facility, an energy system, a city, economic activity, or even a region.

ACEEE has begun to examine how energy efficiency intersects with the need for more resilient buildings, facilities, cities, electric grids, and other systems. For example, efficiency measures better retain indoor temperatures and improve building comfort, which is particularly important during storms or other weather events that can cause outages. These measures are important in critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and other buildings that might be used as shelters.

Here’s a sneak preview of some new ACEEE resources related to efficiency and resilience. Topics include community planning, distributed energy resources, and grid operations.

Community Resilience and Rebuilding

City planners are fundamentally concerned with reducing and responding to threats to their communities’ homes, hospitals, businesses, and transportation systems. This includes short- or long-term losses of power due to extreme weather. A 2015 ACEEE report looked at the resilience benefits of efficiency measures (see table below) and the ways that local resilience planners can incorporate them. Coming later this year, ACEEE will publish a review of city resilience strategies from around the world to better understand how cities plan to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and transportation sectors, to pursue clean energy and energy storage, and to remedy energy- and transportation-inequity.

Source: https://aceee.org/research-report/u1508

Energy efficiency can also play an important role in near-term post-disaster rebuilding plans. In a blog post, we looked at how efficient energy systems like combined heat and power (CHP), microgrids, and district energy systems can be part of rebuilding efforts to provide customers with reliable and affordable energy. We recommend that state and local policymakers recognize the benefits of energy-efficient measures and systems and do more to enable them.

Resilient Distributed Energy Resources

Our report, Valuing Distributed Energy Resources: Combined Heat and Power and the Modern Grid, suggests ways stakeholders can do more to promote those systems. While we know that distributed energy resources are often more resilient than traditional generation, they still make up only a small portion of the nation’s energy infrastructure. This report describes how facilities, communities, utilities, and others affected by poor energy resilience can better assess the costs of disruptive events and the benefits of mitigation strategies. We also suggest a proposed framework for measuring the resilience value of distributed energy resources.

Grid Operations and Wholesale Energy Markets

In 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) began a process, continued through this year, to examine resilience in the utility sector. The agency turned down a US Department of Energy (DOE) proposal aimed at subsidizing nuclear and coal energy plants as baseload resources to improve the resilience of the US energy system. Instead, it asked grid operators to define resilience and identify issues that are threatening it. For grid operators, this discussion is both nuanced and technical. In particular, they must consider how reliability — a term that is clearly defined by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and comes with strict performance standards and requirements — fits into broader grid resilience. For example, grid operators and FERC are working on changes to wholesale energy markets, which are used to meet reliability requirements.

Energy efficiency also plays a key role in maintaining grid reliability, including as a resource in wholesale capacity markets and as a response to electricity crises. Recognizing the value of efficiency for grid reliability is important within the national dialogue around our resource mix and resilience. In an upcoming topic brief, ACEEE will look at how utilities value reliability and resilience in energy efficiency cost-effectiveness testing.

Federal agencies, state regulators, grid operators, cities, and other stakeholders are all grappling with how to define and manage system resilience. Energy efficiency plays a critical role at each of these levels, and our publications aim to ensure that efficiency takes center stage in the discussion. Stay tuned!

A note from CEO Bob Hinkle: I started Metrus when my daughter Lyla was 8 years old and a lot of things have changed since then (in both life and in the world of energy efficiency). She’ll be a freshman this year at Denison University so we thought we’d assign her some summer reading before she heads off to college.

For some people, the extreme temperatures that have struck various parts of the globe may simply seem like a good excuse to head to the beach. However, for those who have been paying attention to recent reports on climate change, these extreme heat waves are yet another sign that if we do not change our ways we’ll soon face much bigger challenges than being uncomfortable during a heat wave.

Whether you’re well-versed on the impacts of climate change or not (especially if you’re not), I’d recommend adding Elizabeth Rush’s Rising and Climate Justice by Mary Robinson to your summer reading list. In language that is both powerful and easy to understand, these authors detail how climate change impacts the most vulnerable members of society and also present solutions (at a local and global level) to help save our planet before we reach a point of no return.

In Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, Rush utilizes the power of language through personal and scientific anecdotes to help readers, whose lives may be removed from the effects of climate change, understand and feel empathy towards communities that are deeply affected by our changing planet. Whether it be in Jacob’s Point, RI, Isle de Jean Charles, LA, Staten Island, NY, or San Francisco, CA, Rush puts readers on the front lines of climate change battles in these coastal communities. In heartfelt, poetic language, Rush also describes the tragedy that occurs when a “once-in-500 years” storm tears apart your home, your family and your community and highlights that in American society, “people of color are often the most vulnerable to climate change, [but] these communities also tend to receive disproportionately low funding for adaptation, resiliency, and relocation.” Rising weaves together the stories of people and places affected by climate change to give a sense of urgency to the situations of people whose voices often fall on deaf ears.

Mary Robinson’s Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future stresses many of the same themes as Rush’s Rising while also providing concrete steps people can take to help prevent further damage being inflicted on our planet. In Climate Justice, Robinson, the former president of Ireland, explains how people in underdeveloped communities are often the first to notice changes in their environment. Robinson also advocates putting people in local communities to work in emerging fields such as renewable energy as a solution for job loss in fossil fuel industries and other traditional areas of the economy. Through the subjects in her book, Robinson helps to prove that climate change is much more of a human rights issue than a policy issue and that we need to listen to the voices of those who are doubly marginalized, by both life circumstances beyond their control and by the effects of climate change in their communities. Robinson sums up her thesis by saying; “All of us—governments, both powerful and small, prosperous and impoverished; cities, communities, business leaders, and individuals—bear responsibility. The threat to our planet may be dire, but the potential opportunity is also historic—the chance to stop an existential threat, to conquer poverty and inequality, and to empower those who have been left behind and neglected.”

As someone who grew up in a household where talk of energy efficiency was as common as talk about a recent Red Sox or Patriots game (my dad is a die-hard Boston sports fan), I have a general understanding of the negative consequences of our changing climate. However, having never taken it upon myself to actually research these topics, reading these books has opened my eyes to the urgent need to act now and the importance of doing what we can to support the people who are already suffering from rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and the cost of living in coastal communities and beyond.

Pratima Rangarajan, CEO OGCI Climate Investments being interviewed by Amy Francetic of Energize Ventures

Last month Clean Energy Trust hosted Co_Invest Cleantech – an annual event centered around clean energy and resource efficiency technologies. One of the highlights of the day was the unveiling of Clean Energy Trust’s most recent seed investments in innovative young startups from the Mid-Continent region of the United States. Equally exciting, though, were some of the ideas shared by our speakers.

It was made clear that there is an abundance of new and exciting initiatives underway by corporations large and small to adopt sustainable business practices. Mindy Lubber, CEO of Ceres, described her organization’s success when partnering with large corporations and the capital markets to tackle climate risks in business. Jennifer Rumsey, Chief Technology Officer of Cummins, a Fortune 500 industrial company, highlighted the proactive steps her company is taking not only to rethink their product offerings but also to drive towards less energy intensity in their business operations.

It was Dr. Pratima Rangarajan, the CEO of OGCI Climate Investments, however, who really caught my attention with her focus on the need for massive investments in energy efficiency in both the built environment and industrial processes.

Central to her argument was the fact that almost two-thirds of electricity generated is lost and never put to work, largely due to heat loss at conversion as well as losses incurred in transmission and distribution. Recent data by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) backs up her point. In 2018, 38.2 Quads of energy were used to generate electricity in the United States yet only 12.9 Quads were ultimately consumed by the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. The rest, 25.3 Quads, was lost!

As the saying goes, the best (and most economical) kilowatt is the one you don’t use. Research from LLNL and ACEEE have shown that the cost of energy efficiency averages ~$0.03/kWh, far below the cost of electricity from other sources of capacity. These facts are not lost on utility program administrators implementing integrated resource plans and energy efficiency incentive programs.

If energy efficiency upgrades make so much sense, why aren’t more companies and building owners aggressively pursuing them? Cost is certainly one key reason. Energy efficiency requires upfront capital investment and there is fierce competition from other projects and initiatives for scarce investment dollars. Energy efficiency is often put head-to-head against other projects that might be more core to a business’ operations (e.g., expanding production or buying a new MRI machine, etc.)

The good news is that the first cost hurdle is an eminently solvable problem through innovative financing solutions like Efficiency Service Agreements (ESAs). After all, if a kWh saved creates economic value, can’t this economic value be used to help pay for projects? And, if these “negawatts” are leveraged to finance retrofit projects with little or no upfront investment, thereby freeing scarce capital for other opportunities, isn’t this win-win?

The event made this point clear to me: It’s time for corporate and institutional energy managers and building owners to accelerate their adoption of new, energy efficient technologies to achieve deep and persistent long-term savings. With innovative financing solutions to surmount the first cost barrier, all the tools are now in place.

If it Works here, Will it Work Anywhere?

New York City likes to do things in a big way. From its 24/7 culture to its 237 skyscrapers, there is nothing small about the Big Apple. Now, thanks to the Climate Mobilization Act, New York can also boast the biggest, most aggressive climate legislation in the country.

It’s those big buildings that are at the crux of the legislation. According to some estimates, the city’s skyscrapers produce 70% of New York’s carbon emissions. To tackle this problem head-on, the local government did not propose a modest solution. They swung for the fences.

The Climate Mobilization Act is a big deal. The scope is breathtaking. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Under the Act, buildings over 25,000 square feet in size will have to implement EE measures to hit a mandated reduction of 40% by 2030 or they’ll be assessed a penalty of $268 per every assessed ton of carbon over the cap. It is estimated that the largest offenders will pay fines of at least $1 million.

We like this Act in part because it has teeth. There have been many initiatives with great goals that get people excited but don’t carry any consequences for inaction. This bill is one of the first to have time-bound, monetary consequences if energy end-users of a certain size don’t act to cut their emissions. The Act is not solely sticks or solely carrots (in the carrot vs. stick world); it has sticks but it is also developed with the knowledge that all the tools are in place for building owners to act now. It is also a natural follow-up to New York’s mandatory energy auditing and reporting legislation that preceded this Act a few years ago.

What New York is doing is bold. It’s the first city to attach a dollar value to these disclosure figures. Washington, D.C. passed a building-energy performance standard in December for buildings over 50,000 square feet, and when buildings in the District fall out of compliance those landlords will be moved into an advisory lane to get back on track. San Francisco passed a law this month requiringbig buildings to switch to renewable electricity, an easier goal for a city with a forgiving climate located in a state with a cleaner grid.

While NYC landlords and political opponents have seized upon some of the most aggressive aspects of the Act, the rest of the nation will be watching closely to see if such an audacious initiative can succeed in the country’s most populated city.

Which raises the question: Will other cities follow New York’s lead? We posed that question to two New York-based experts who are familiar with many aspects of the legislation.

“It depends on the state,” said Marc Rauch, Senior Specialist, New York Clean Energy Real Estate, Environmental Defense Fund. “We did a study last year that revealed there are at least 25 cities in the US where more than half of the greenhouse emissions came from buildings. That’s really significant. That means, for cities that want to reduce greenhouse emissions, there’s opportunity for legislation like this, regardless of what’s happening at the national level.”

According to Phil Ortiz, Assistant Director for External Affairs from the NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability: “To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, cities around the world must immediately take aggressive steps to make buildings cleaner and more efficient. For many cities, buildings are the number one source of emissions. This legislation establishes a model for other cities around the world to follow, and we expect that many of them will choose to do so.”

I hope many cities do follow New York’s lead. Metrus believes strongly that acting locally and thinking globally is the key to a sustainable future. That’s one of the reasons we made a significant commitment to We Are Still In last year. As a loyal Boston Red Sox and Bruins fan, rooting for New York isn’t something that comes easily to me, but in this case, I hope its Climate Mobilization Act wins big.

April 2019 marks Metrus’ 10th year in business. This milestone has forced me to do something I don’t like to do: Look backwards. I much prefer to analyze the road ahead, but sometimes it’s nice to stop and appreciate the journey.

Early Days: In the early 2000s, I worked at Bechtel (Nexant) on project financing initiaitvies in the U.S. and in emerging markets. My work there was oddly split into projects that either involved financing new power stations or finding ways to reduce energy use inside the fence of industrial and commercial facilities. I got to see every day that saving a kilowatt-hour was far more cost effective than generating one. Despite this fact, there were no specific financing options available for energy efficiency. However, right around this time we started seeing financing structures like power purchase agreements (PPAs) beginning to be used for smaller scale renewable energy projects. I saw firms like MMA Renewable Ventures and Sun Edison using PPAs to scale solar, and started to think about similar ways to fund energy savings opportunities. I took this germ of an idea and gave it a home in Metrus.

Like most start-ups looking for financing, I heard “no” a lot. Most investors were looking for a quick home run or a new technology to grasp onto; however, we were creating a different type of energy asset class and we were selling efficiency-as-a-service.

As my father used to say to his little league hitters with two strikes in the count: “It only takes one (pitch).” In my case, I only needed one “yes.” In 2009, we secured our initial funding and landed our first project, with BAE Systems in New Hampshire. Working alongside established players (Siemens and Bank of America) on that initial project was a great way to break in…it also meant proving to a skeptical executive or two that a small player like Metrus belonged at the table. Fortunately, BAE and then other Fortunes 500 firms and institutions after them, believed in what we were doing, and we were off to the races.

Early Champions: Every little bit of help is significant when launching a business. In our case, there were a few organizations that stand out: Wilson Sonsini, our law firm to this day, took a bet on us and helped with drafting contracts so we could close our initial projects. The California Clean Energy Fund stepped up in a big way, providing marketing support and much-needed office space. Cliff Adams, Erik Birkerts, Terry Fry and Scott Henderson gave expert advice and Matt Hofherr designed our logo. Colleagues at Renewable Ventures, which spawned an incredible clean energy diaspora, showed me that it was possible to have an idea and go out on your own and be successful. My wife, Meghan, also gave me the courage to pursue this new business even though the timing was challenging—right on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis.

What’s changed in 10 years? The demand for sustainability and energy efficiency is much greater today. Customers are finally putting energy efficiency on par with supply side resources, and starting to think about equating that with the energy they're saving. We’re nearing a tipping point in the market where customers are now asking for third party efficiency-as-a-service solution. We see it with the volume of deals we're doing and in the tenor of customer discussions. We see it in the types of partners that we have. We see it in the number of competitors too, which has gradually increased over that span—showing that the space is maturing and evolving, and that there’s more understanding in the marketplace of what we do.

Today, Metrus can proudly point to projects that have saved more than one billion kWh of electricity, 830 million tons of CO2 and approximately 100,000 gallons of water. We’ve had projects in 23 states, but I see us as a 50 state company, ultimately one that works in international markets as well.

The best part of the Metrus journey is the group of people I get to work with every day. Our team, which has grown significantly over the last decade, is talented and versatile. They are exceptional at analyzing and solving problems; they can bridge an industry understanding with a financing perspective, and they expertly address customer specific issues or project challenges in order to get efficiency projects done.

I am optimistic about our growing business and the broad range of customers we serve. It’s clear to me that there’s a big shift underway toward creating a more sustainable and efficient built environment. We are excited to be part of the solution for the important journey that lies ahead.

Now, back to work.

When we talk about climate change, we’re talking about many different things. There is, of course, the impact on the environment; there are also the business and financial ramifications. But ultimately it’s the risk to human life that this slow motion crisis is about.

It’s important to keep talking about the significance of climate change, and to keep working to fix the problem. This week is National Public Health Week, and today the spotlight is on climate change. In case people need reminding about the serious health risks posed by this crisis, according to the America Public Health Association (creator of NPH Week), climate change:

Is linked to more frequent and extreme natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding and drought;Is expected to negatively impact food security, water and air quality; andExacerbates the risks of vector-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease.

We are proud to work with customers and partners that share a commitment to creating a sustainable, low-carbon energy future. In 10 years of business, Metrus projects have saved more than one billion kWh of electricity, 830 million tons of CO2 and approximately 100,000 gallons of water. In the grand scheme of things that may be a drop in the ocean, but contributions big and small are what’s required of all of us. Just imagine a day when we didn’t need to recognize climate change during national public health week. That would be a day worth celebrating.

Just three months into the 116th Congress, the discussion on climate change has noticeably shifted in Washington. From subtle evolutions in tone to bold new platforms like the Green New Deal, policymakers are taking a new approach to what is increasingly accepted on both sides of the aisle as an urgent problem.

The discussion spans a wide swath of policy areas, from energy to tax to infrastructure and transportation. And across them all, lawmakers are discovering that energy efficiency is uniquely positioned to make an immediate and significant impact. Political gridlock aside, there is a clear groundswell of alignment and deep bipartisan support for energy efficiency policy solutions because efficiency is the single most effective solution we have for reducing emissions, and it also is creating jobs, strengthening the economy, and enhancing American competitiveness.

The new focus comes after the Trump administration last year released the 4th National Climate Assessment. The report from 13 federal agencies said our climate is changing faster than ever before in modern civilization, with impacts projected to intensify. It was yet another brutal warning about what seems like the inexorable march of an already changing climate.

Equally alarming, we learned early this year that emissions aren’t slowing. A January report said carbon dioxide emissions in the United States actually increased by 3.4 percent in 2018, showing we’re trending in the wrong direction.

The urgency of climate change makes accelerating energy efficiency a major priority. This same point is underscored by IEA’s study that shows efficiency will need to be more than 40 percent of the solution to meet the emissions reductions goals of the Paris Agreement.

Given this body of evidence, where are all the policies to accelerate and scale energy efficiency? We have work to do.

Just 15 months ago we had tax incentives encouraging efficiency, but Congress let them expire. So today our tax code has no direct incentives for efficiency even as all sorts of other energy generation remains incentivized. Congress should modernize and extend energy efficiency incentives and do its part to spur efficiency improvements in homes and commercial buildings. Congress also should fix errors in the 2017 tax bill that inadvertently left building owners with longer depreciation periods for investments in certain property upgrades, when the intent was to shorten the depreciation. We are proud to be working with leading companies such as Metrus to fight for strong, meaningful tax policy encouraging efficiency.

In addition, the U.S. should be a leader in programs and R&D that make us a global leader. Congress has the opportunity to make historic investments in federal programs for energy efficiency R&D, home weatherization, efficiency standards for common appliances, and public-private partnerships that help manufacturers and institutions save money through efficiency improvements. Remember, funding for these programs by itself is not the end goal. Rather, it’s the means to billions of dollars more in savings from delivering more energy-efficient technologies, building better homes & buildings, and ushering in lower utility bills for families in need. Those are the results that really matter.

Another question top of mind in Washington is how to get something done to update our aging infrastructure. Notably, even in today’s divided political climate, everyone seems to agree on the need to address infrastructure. But lawmakers should be looking a lot more closely at energy efficiency as a solution. Public facilities – think airports, water and wastewater systems, military installations and other critical facilities – should be built and retrofitted to use less energy. This won’t just cut down on needless pollution but will reduce government spending on operations costs for decades to come. Some projects could even end up paying for themselves with the long-term energy savings.

We also need to start paving the way for a modernized transportation network that gets optimum efficiency across all modes, including passenger vehicles but also mass transit, freight, and new technologies like automated vehicles. We should invest in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and a tax credit encouraging consumers to buy electric vehicles should also be updated to ensure the growth of electric vehicle markets.

We’ve come so far in how we use energy, but we have a long way to go. For lawmakers looking for bipartisan solutions to address climate change while delivering improved economic growth and productivity, energy efficiency presents an incredible opportunity. Now’s the time to roll up our sleeves and grab it.

The Alliance to Save Energy is a nonprofit, bipartisan alliance of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders advocating for enhanced energy productivity to achieve economic growth, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security, affordability and reliability.

Two weeks ago, I saw first-hand the power of collective action as hundreds of higher education leaders converged at the 2019 Higher Education Climate Leadership Summit to create large-scale climate solutions for our campuses that will have a global impact. The meeting occurred after a year of growing evidence on the urgency of climate change – be it direct experience with extreme weather events or the latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Instead of questions about “should we do something?” the dialog has shifted to “what are we going to do?” While academic research has produced cutting-edge climate science and solutions, the new direction is to innovate, scale, and accelerate progress. In short, it’s time for collective actions to create transformative solutions.

“Colleges and universities have to be leaders on this issue now,” said Wim Wiewel, President of Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. “Our commitment to climate leadership influences millions of students and makes a real difference in our carbon emissions.”

As the largest annual gathering of higher education climate leaders, the participants are all well placed to take local action across the U.S. and catalyze truly global impact -- and many of them are working closely with businesses on taking action.

In his opening keynote remarks, the billionaire investment manager Jeremy Grantham made the business case for urgent action on climate change. Investing in sustainability in time and at a scale to change the trajectory of climate change is not, he said, a matter of philanthropy; it’s a matter of survival. Grantham pointed to a tipping point in public awareness on climate, acknowledging the work of scientists and higher education leaders whose willingness to “tell it like it is” – in a way anyone can understand – will remain crucial to accelerating further action.

The conference was inspirational, highly productive and covered a lot of territory. Scott Miller, President of Virginia Wesleyan University, said this about it: “Putting these higher education thought leaders in the same room is truly a catalyst for rigorous and robust action on our campuses and in our communities."

Because of the many ideas that were discussed, it’s difficult to distill two days of great content into a handful of top takeaways, but here are two that made an impact on me:

First, cross-sector action is needed at multiple levels. U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse spoke about increased engagement of higher education. Campus leaders will not only need to work collectively across institutions, but also with the public sector to leverage every tool available to help inform and support the creation of policies that touch on climate, the environment and the economy for comprehensive policy solutions that will be the most beneficial for current communities and future generations.

Second, leaders from business and academia need to stop settling for small or disconnected action and start taking bolder action on environmental justice and creating silo-busting partnerships. We must accelerate the experimentation and thought leadership that students, businesses, and the Higher Ed communities are generating. This includes tapping into financial innovations, like efficiency service agreements, that enable colleges and universities to make transformational energy infrastructure improvements while not affecting its balance sheet and reducing operational costs over the long-term.

Finally, I urge you to read our new Call to Action: Guiding Principles for Accelerating Equitable and Just Climate Solutions (link), which calls for higher education leaders (and leaders in other sectors) to join together in moving society towards a more sustainable, healthy, and prosperous future.

“Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today,” said Revolutionary sage, Ben Franklin. But when it comes to building retrofits, knowing how and when to invest in energy efficiency can be daunting. We called upon David Korn, founder of Ridgeline Energy Analytics, and his 20 years of experience identifying buildings in need of retrofits, to provide insight into the key things to look for when considering a retrofit. This simple three-step review can help you determine the overall health of your building— and if it’s time for a retrofit.

STEP ONE: Listen

Your building’s energy systems are critical to employee productivity, the healthiness of their work environment and how effectively your business functions. If you are seeing escalating equipment repair costs, or are hearing negative internal or external feedback about your buildings, it’s probably time to consider a retrofit.

STEP TWO: Age is more than a number

By doing an equipment-age inventory your retrofit needs should come into sharp focus. With rapid advances in technology, combined with decreasing equipment costs, the time for a retrofit may be sooner than you think. Here are the key pieces of equipment to assess:

LED Lights

If you have less efficient systems that are producing uneven or poor light, or if you're starting to see electrical ballast failures, then it’s definitely time to switch to LED lights. In fact, LEDs have improved to the point where it might make financial sense to change out a fully functioning system—even if it’s less than three to four years old.

HVAC Units

If you've got a rooftop HVAC unit in the 15 to 20-year old range, it's probably time to replace it. These systems are out in the weather and can leak, letting in excessive cold or hot outside air. New ones are much more efficient. Taking into account degradation, a new unit can be up to twice as efficient as your old degraded units, cutting energy use in half. Many RTU manufacturers have begun incorporating energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) for pretreating outside air, savings energy and improving indoor air quality. Variable speed drives can cut fan energy in half during periods with light loads.

Boilers and Chillers

Boilers and chillers are large, expensive pieces of equipment, and need careful analysis. The useful life will vary depending on its design and use, but it’s probably in the 15-25 year range. Low efficiency indicators include spending money on parts and labor, downtime and higher energy bills. Large college campuses, for example, are finding savings by replacing aging steam systems with more efficient lower temperature hot water systems.

Steam chiller- any age

In the past, some facilities installed steam or hot water driven chillers that used natural gas and reduced peak electrical demand. These devices, called adsorption chillers, are inefficient. A modern electric chiller is 7 times more efficient than a steam chiller. Look into energy costs and why that chiller was put in in the first place. You may find savings with a replacement.

Building Management Systems (BMS)

If you haven't installed a new software system in the last five years, you probably need an upgrade. If you haven't done much with the system in 15 years, you may need to replace parts like sensors or buy some more advanced equipment. The newest BMS are much more advanced and easier to use than older systems.

STEP THREE: Consider the costs, including the cost of delay

Financially, do a quick cost-benefit analysis of upgrades. This includes assessing: 1) the initial upfront cost of new equipment; 2) annual energy and non-energy savings associated with the upgrade, 3) the cost of keeping your old inefficient equipment running, including service contracts, in-house labor, parts, maintenance, emergency calls, or even downtime; and 4) the cost (or lost savings) from delaying or pushing out the implementation of key upgrades into the future. When all of these factors are assessed, investing in energy efficiency upgrades can make a lot of sense. One added critical financial piece to consider is the potential advantage of bundling upgrades—particularly lower-cost upgrades like LED lights and controllers with longer payback items like a new chiller—for efficiency gains. If you have challenges obtaining sufficient internal capital to implement your upgrades, or can’t get enough internal funding because the return on efficiency upgrades don’t meet your internal hurdle rates, consider an Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA). An ESA will help you overcome the financial and implementation obstacles that may be preventing your buildings from reaching peak efficiency (and health.)

Recent data from Lazard shows that prices for renewable electricity declined in 2018, continuing their downward trend. However, this data overlook another critical clean energy resource. Energy efficiency–the kilowatt-hours we avoid by eliminating waste–remains, on average, our nation’s least-cost resource.

Efficiency delivers a host of other benefits. It improves electric grid reliability and resilience, can target savings where and when needed the most, creates jobs (energy efficiency employs 2.25 million people in the US today), spurs economic development, reduces customer utility bills, makes homes and buildings more comfortable, and reduces harmful pollution.

What do the data show?

ACEEE research published last summer shows that energy efficiency programs cost utilities, on average, about 3.1 cents per kilowatt-hour nationally. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has found similar results in an analysis of 2009-2015 program year data (with a few differences in approach). It has also examined the total cost of efficiency programs, including participant costs.

The average cost of efficiency to utilities is still generally less than that of wind or utility-scale solar. Overall, energy efficiency and clean energy continue to come in at a lower cost per kilowatt-hour than more traditional resources.

How big are efficiency investments?

Investments in energy efficiency can have a big impact. Those made between 1990 and today have helped us avoid building the equivalent of 313 large power plants and have delivered cumulative savings of nearly $790 billion to customers nationwide. The need and opportunity for efficiency as a utility resource will continue in the coming years as states and utilities will need to meet evolving goals.

For example, investments in transmission and distribution have grown significantly over the past decade. This trend means higher costs for customers. Energy efficiency can help keep these costs in check by serving as both a broad-based resource and a distributed energy resource that meets specific time and locational needs on the grid. Efficiency also has a large role to play in reducing emissions and meeting aggressive climate goals for many states and cities.

The good news: Utilities are increasing efficiency investments, helping their customers use energy more efficiently, and meeting demand by saving energy rather than generating it. A recent LBNL analysis projects, in its medium case scenario, that utilities will increase efficiency investments from $5.8 billion in 2016 to $8.6 billion in 2030, a jump of more than 45%.

But will this, or even the LBNL study’s high scenario, be enough to meet states’ growing energy and climate policy needs? Not likely. New and refined policy tools will be needed, such as the next generation of energy efficiency resource standards, utility business models aligned with efficiency, and financing options that help businesses and households leverage public and ratepayer funding to drive deeper savings. Check out the ACEEE State Policy Toolkit, which can help state policymakers and regulators increase use of our nation’s least-cost energy resource.

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A version of this post was originally published on the ACEEE website

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. We believe that the United States can harness the full potential of energy efficiency to achieve greater economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection for all its people.

A team, when it’s really in sync, is a beautiful thing to behold. Whether it’s watching the Warriors weave their magic at Oracle Arena or seeing the cast of Come From Away

perform on stage, you know when you’re witnessing something special.

I grew up playing hockey in New England (which, as the NHL sadly highlights, is getting tougher to play outside each winter…). I played on some really good teams…and I also played on some pretty lousy teams. What made the good teams click was when the players’ talents complemented each other. It’s that way in business too and I am fortunate to work with a very talented and collaborative team at Metrus.

As the efficiency-as-a-service (EaaS) ecosystem continues to expand at a healthy rate, we are also fortunate to work with a terrific constellation of organizations. In the spirit of the holidays, we are grateful for our many partners who help us achieve superior results for our customers. A summary of key 2018 partners and their contributions:

Citi: A lender on several key deals in 2018, Citi is truly committed in the energy efficiency and sustainability space. They are such a believer in EaaS that they’ve done an ESA on their own buildings.

Siemens: A Metrus partner since Day One, we recently closed a project with them for our Fortune 50 customer. Among other areas, they excel in developing integrated, multi-measure projects that are tailor-made for ESAs

National Grid: We announced our first partnership with this leading utility in May. They continue to work with us to help their large commercial and industrial customers tackle deeper, more comprehensive energy efficiency upgrades.

SmartWatt: An energy optimization firm that has been our partner on all the deals with our Fortune 100 customer. We are working with this innovative company on many other new and exciting opportunities.

Eversource: A multi-state utility that played an instrumental role in helping us closing the Bristol Hospital project.

Amalgamated Bank: Our lender on Bristol Hospital and Wells College projects, they stand out from the banking crowd with their focus on community-based investments (schools and hospitals) as well as sustainability

Trane: We closed our first higher education deal with Trane and they partnered with us on the Bristol project. Their long-term relationships with customers that serve as anchors in their community is vast

Second Nature: One of our newest partners, Second Nature is committed to climate action in, and through, higher education. We look forward to providing our flexible financing solution to Second Nature’s partners

Thank You All!

On the eve of the 2018 mid term elections, an election that will have severalenergy efficiency-related measures on the ballot, we thought it would be interesting to create a Metrus efficiency map that tracks, state-by-state, the impact our projects are having on the environment.

From New Hampshire to Hawaii, we measured the amount of CO2 that’s being avoided across the 21 states in which we have projects. California leads all states with more than 25,000 tons avoided followed by Florida at 15,000-plus tons. Kentucky is in third place with nearly 14,000 tons avoided, followed closely by Indiana and Texas.

In total, Metrus’ portfolio reduces the CO2 in the atmosphere by an annual average of 148,516 tons. Put another way, Metrus is responsible for taking 29 thousand cars off the roads each year.

Fun Metrus Fact: Dixville Notch, NH is famous for being one of the first places in the nation to declare its votes during presidential elections. New Hampshire was also the first state to vote for a Metrus ESA!

Now, get out and vote tomorrow!

You may have heard that there’s a fairly important mid-term election being held on Tuesday. Most notable are the many Senate and House seats that are up for grabs. But don’t sleep on the various state ballot initiatives, the results of which are likely to have far-reaching consequences.

Whether it’s about scaling back fracking in Colorado, or curbing methane leaks in New Mexico, or banning offshore drilling in Florida, climate change is on the ballot Tuesday.

The most-watched, however, will be initiative 1631 in Washington State. The measure, which recently landed the endorsement of The New York Times Editorial Board, seeks to curb carbon production through fees on large producers of carbon. Washingtonians rejected a similar carbon tax initiative just two years ago, in part because the funds would be used on items other than climate change. In this version, the revenues can only be invested in climate projects, not on alternative government expenses or public programs,

If the initiative passes, the funds will be directed with a goal of reducing state emissions by 50 million metric tons by 2050. To put that in perspective, the reduction would be equal to taking 10.7 million cars off the road for a year, or avoiding consumption on roughly 5.6 billion gallons of gasoline.

It would also mark the first time a state has passed a “carbon tax,” and hopefully in victory Washington will have developed a roadmap for other states to follow.

Go Vote on Tuesday!

2018 World Energy Rankings Provide a Roadmap

Matthew C Banks Associate Director Sustainability | Navigant

The fall of 2018 is full of high profile climate summits aimed at spurring some momentum across the economy in the wake of the US federal respite on climate action. In September there was the California Governor's Global Climate Action Summit and then Climate Week NYC. In October Boston hosts Horizon18 sessions where decarbonizing with “Deep Energy Efficiency” is on the agenda, at what is billed as a “Global Solutions Platform for the Clean Economy”.

As corporations dash to set science-based emissions targets, they sometimes sprint to deliver targets briskly, placing a high priority on renewable energy, as 2030 looms closer. This leads to conventional energy conservation, savings, and deep efficiency being left behind, or at least given less attention and follow through. A real and imminent risk of such a pivot is falling short of the Paris Agreement level of ambition or missing out on the cost savings, which is usually substantial, brought to light in roadmaps like The 3% Solution. This doesn’t even include ancillary benefits like comfort, improved indoor ambient air quality, or opportunities to save other resources such as water.

The World Energy Rankings suggest countries need energy efficiency to meet the Paris Agreement goals. This scorecard ranked 25 of the world’s largest energy users (countries) on 36 efficiency metrics and highlighted best practices countries can use to boost energy savings. The United States slid from 8th place in 2016 to 10th in 2018 by scoring six fewer points. Energy efficiency needs to account for almost half of all the emission reductions necessary through 2040 to limit the global increase in temperature to 2C, according to the International Energy Agency. To meet climate targets and reap the multiple benefits of energy efficiency, companies should build efficiency into action plans and learn from one another by emulating the best policies and practices of leaders.

One practice that delivers on today’s challenges is integration of technical and financial services to make efficiency projects a triple bottom line success. Metrus Energy, for example, is revolutionizing the way efficiencies are delivered to customers. Metrus pays for all upfront project costs and is paid only when a project achieves actual savings. Metrus projects use a combination of efficiency measures and technologies that generate the maximum savings as well as operational and environmental co-benefits. An Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA) provides a pay-for-performance solution that is off balance sheet and includes the opportunity to add services and new efficiency measures as they emerge. Metrus Energy

In another example, the EP100 Initiative brings together energy-smart companies like Hilton, H&M and Salesforce that commit to using energy more productively, to lower emissions. By setting ambitious targets and integrating energy efficiency into business strategy, companies drive innovation while delivering on emissions reduction goals – inspiring others to follow their lead. If 100 companies were to double their energy productivity by 2030 – generating twice as much economic output for every unit of energy consumed – over 170 million metric tons of emissions could be avoided cumulatively, equivalent to taking nearly 40 million cars off the road for a year

Parents often say, “No dessert until you eat your vegetables!” Making a b-line for renewable energy is a bit like eating dessert before vegetables. The renewables can be the sweet icing on a climate action plan, or dessert. They look good, feel good, and communicate easily (sound good). They also help close the emissions gap after efficiency gains are limited, but energy efficiency is the nutritious low hanging veggie that can keep on giving.

Deep energy efficiency in pursuit of the Paris goals is going to require doubling energy productivity, together, through new solutions, partnerships, alliances, and abatement strategies that address energy consumption, waste, and clean energy in concert. All the ingredients are converging for an era and a nexus of emissions targets, deep efficiency, renewable energy and triple bottom line successes.

Happy Energy Efficiency Day!

Today, Metrus joins a vast network of advocates, companies, government agencies, utilities and others to celebrate #EEDay2018. While it’s not a well-known national “day” (thankfully the kids still have school!), it’s an important occasion because it recognizes the fact that doing something that improves your bottom line and creating a more sustainable planet aren’t mutually exclusive.

As the current Administration continues to look the other way on climate change, an array of other entities are filling the void. We recently made significant commitments to We Are Still In and The Better Buildings Challenge – two initiatives that are on the frontlines fighting climate change. This week, PSE&G, the New Jersey’s largest regulated utility, proposed a $4 billion plan to make the Garden State greener. Meanwhile, local governments from coast to coast are also seeing the benefit in creating energy policies that promote sustainability.

Energy efficiency is clearly trending in the right direction. Check out these data points from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy:

Energy efficiency employs 2.25 million people in the US today more than the number of people who work in the coal, oil, gas, electricity and even renewable energy industries combined;

Since 1990, savings from energy efficiency gains have averted the need to build 313 large power plants and has delivered cumulative savings of nearly $790 billion for Americans.

It goes even deeper than that. Here’s what Ben Sav from the Institute for Policy Studies writes about the impact energy efficiency can have at the human level:

“Energy efficiency isn't just about lowering power bills or limiting pollution. It can also be a tool for mitigating some of the deepest inequalities in our society. Energy efficiency addresses the inequalities of energy insecurity and environmental injustice at both ends, by making energy bills more affordable for vulnerable people while also reducing the need for energy production (and therefore reducing the associated pollution).”

Whether it’s retrofitting a large warehouse with HVAC upgrades and hot water controls (us) or converting to more energy efficient light bulbs in your living room (you), every act of energy efficiency is worth celebrating. Today and every day.

Energy efficiency is gaining serious steam across America. That was my big picture takeaway from attending the recent Better Buildings Summit. The Summit, held in Cleveland for the first time, is the Department of Energy’s largest trade show of the year, with nearly three thousand energy professionals in attendance.

Metrus Energy was recognized as a 2018 Goal Achiever under the Better Buildings Program. Metrus CEO, Bob Hinkle received the award in Cleveland, Ohio from Maria Vargas, Director of the Better Buildings Challenge for the U.S. Department of Energy

Speaking of the host city, kudos to Cleveland for its work in energy efficiency. Cleveland was the second city in the country to join the nationwide network of 2030 Districts dedicated to helping commercial buildings cut energy usage, water consumption, and commuter transportation emissions in half by the year 2030. It was a great event. Here are five things that stood out to me:

Going beyond savings. Resilience was a hot topic at the Summit as many partners are beginning to think about the implications of climate change and increased weather activity and how it may affect their buildings’ performance, strength, and value. Collaboration in this critical area is being fostered through the Better Buildings Challenge (BBC) Combined Heat and Power (CHP) for Resiliency Accelerator.

Water efficiency is on the rise. Many partners are starting to focus on improving water efficiency in their buildings in addition to energy improvements and over 40 partners across the commercial, public, industrial, and multifamily sectors are working with DOE to track water saving improvements and share successful strategies. This matches project-level tends for our recent ESA transactions at Metrus which increasingly include water efficiency upgrades.

Financing takes center stage. Clean energy finance continues to be a major area of excitement and activity for many partners. This year’s Summit featured financing focused sessions on topics such as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) and energy efficiency-as-a-service. The full spectrum of energy efficiency financing options was on display at this year’s BBC goal achiever award ceremony. Award recipients included Citi, Bank of America, PACE Equity, New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation and Metrus Energy. Regional programs, including those run by Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), are starting to develop initiatives that tap into innovative efficiency financing solutions that target deep energy retrofit projects.

Stepping up. Businesses, state and municipal entities are making commitments to improve their energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. The BBC continues to grow as over 20 new organizations from the MUSH, C&I, and financial sectors joined in the past year.

Save and repeat. A number of partners that have achieved their original energy reduction goals have set additional goals to strive for with additional reductions targets reaching as high as 60%. I am proud to say that Metrus is among the list of the 19 partners who achieved their goals this year, highlighted in this DOE news.

There was a lot more that I could have written about. The level of optimism and momentum in the energy efficiency is tremendous right now, and the Better Buildings Summit put it all on display. Can’t wait til next year!

As summer comes to a close, many of us would probably admit that we forgot about the summer reading list we made back in May.

But before summer ends, and before life rapidly picks up again, I urge you to move three books to the top of that list and to immerse yourself in the insightful and critical ideas that are presented in them.

The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken, The Water Will Come, by Jeff Goodell, and Climate of Hope, co-authored by Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope each address one of the most widespread and important issues facing our world today: climate change. Here at Metrus we are constantly working to tackle this issue in any way we can. While all three books offer different perspectives on the issue, each recognizes the perilous effects of climate change and the need for actors big and small to join the fight.

In The Ecology of Commerce, Hawken is back with a revised edition of his 1994 book where he attributed much of climate change to the business community – while also acknowledging businesses have the most potential to solve our sustainability problems. In a thoughtful analysis of the current state of business and how it effects our planet, he asks the big question: Can we create companies that are profitable but that don’t destroy, directly or indirectly, the world around them? Hawken seems to believe this is possible but only if the institutions surrounding commerce are redesigned. Throughout the book, Hawken urges the reader to, “imagine a prosperous commercial culture that is so intelligently designed and constructed that it mirrors nature at every step,” so that there is a, “symbiosis of company and customer and ecology.”

In, Goodell similarly touches on the causes of climate change, with a point of emphasis on the threats rising sea levels pose to some of the world’s largest cities. Throughout the book Goodell shows how cities all around the world are combating rising sea levels - from erecting flood walls and levies, to physically raising up infrastructure to be higher away from sea level – but not working on ways to address climate change and stop sea level rise in its tracks. Through staggering, sometimes chilling statistics and candid interviews, Goodell forces the reader to come to terms with the deeply unsettling reality that rising sea levels are reshaping the world – and not in a good way.

While recognizing the imminent threat climate change poses to the world, authors Bloomberg and Pope offer a more optimistic view about the future in Although from very different backgrounds - Bloomberg is the billionaire former mayor of New York City, and Pope is the former chairman of the Sierra Club - they join forces here to show readers that the way forward won’t come from our governments, but rather a grassroots movement and bottom-up approach. They describe how the, “single most important development in the fight against climate change has been how mayors, CEOs and investors are increasingly looking at climate change not as a political issue, but as a financial and economic one...recognizing that there are gains to me made, and losses to be averted,”. They offer solutions such as retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient (like what Metrus is doing by offering efficiency-as-a-service), increasing public transportation to reduce car use and congestion, and moving away from dirty energy such as coal, towards clean, renewable sources like wind and solar. The authors also enourage us to change the way we speak about climate change, so that it is not a divisive topic but instead one that brings people together to incite change.

All three books come to a similar conclusion: that the only way to combat the threat of climate change is to change our habits and address the underlying causes of the issue; not in the next 10 or 25 years, but NOW. Or, summed up this way in The Water Will Come: “It’s not a pretty picture, but you can’t let yourself be paralyzed by fear...you have to take it one step at a time and do what you can right now.”

Over the last year, Citi has been working closely with Metrus Energy to help build and scale the energy efficiency market through Metrus’ Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA). A broad range of efficiency assets can be financed through an ESA including lighting, HVAC, and building envelope; improvements that Metrus and Citi model and evaluate for their potential to reduce costs and carbon emissions. The ESA structure holds significant promise to help unlock the potential of this vast market.

Together with Metrus and its ESCO partner SmartWatt, we recently completed a fourth tranche of an ESA transaction for a Fortune 100 client, bringing the total program for this single customer to approximately $50mm in efficiency measures at 37 sites across the United States.

This transaction is noteworthy for reasons beyond size and reach. The programmatic approach allows this customer to blend site economics, combining sites where utility rates and weather are more favorable with sites that have less favorable conditions. In addition, the sites are all leased, for which landlord consents have been secured and the benefits of the ESA are shared among all stakeholders.

This approach is akin to exploration and production blocks for oil and gas; in this case the “block” being a portfolio of similar properties scattered across multiple jurisdictions. Instead of a government auctioning off geographic blocks, here we have a corporate entity opening up its facilities to efficiency developers for the exploration and production of energy (and other resource) efficiency.

This is exactly what is needed to achieve scale. If we think creatively about how to develop new formulations of blocks and how to harvest efficiency from ever larger pools of properties, outstanding results are achieved. Supply chains, franchises and managed properties are good places to start. How might these work?

Under an ESA, the primary risk evaluated and the fundamental question being asked is “what is the likelihood that the host will be an ongoing viable concern such that it is capable of paying the equivalent or less of its historical utility bill for the life of the ESA contract?”

In the case of supply chains, the entity best able to make this determination is the customer that utilizes the suppliers. Take a global beverage company and its bottling plants around the world as an example. The customer will have intimate knowledge of local markets, and the likelihood of a bottling plant continuing to operate on their behalf for the next five to seven years (typical length of an ESA contract).

On that basis, the customer might be willing to backstop ESA payments for its suppliers, its bottlers. It could mitigate its risk through a portfolio approach, and by limiting the portfolio to say the top 25% of its bottling network. Furthermore, it could charge for the backstop by keeping a portion of the savings.

Local bottling plants reduce costs, and improve resiliency and working conditions, while the customer, in addition to shared savings, strengthens its supply chain and demonstrates environmental responsibility for a greater portion of its footprint. Based on performance, over time the 25% of network could be ratcheted upwards.

The market has only begun to scratch the surface of efficiency exploration and production. We are ready to pursue these new formulations of blocks and other opportunities with Metrus and its partners and clients.

As part of its Sustainable Progress Strategy launched in 2015, Citi announced a landmark commitment to finance and facilitate a total of $100 billion over 10 years to finance activities that reduce the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions that benefit people and communities.

Bruce Schlein is Director, CRA Business Strategy and Paul Bienstock is Vice President, Asset Finance Group at Citi

The Greek philosopher Aristotle famously said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” We would be wise to heed these words when it comes to carbon reduction plans, because it’s all hands on deck time.

Any serious approach to reduce atmospheric carbon needs to adhere to keeping global temperatures under the all-important two degrees Celsius threshold set forth in the Paris Agreement. This is a steep and necessary climb for business across the globe. To hit the two degrees target, companies need to expand their collective “spheres of influence” and take action to reduce all forms of their carbon emissions, including within their global supply chains.

For all companies, the first step is to reduce their direct emissions by increasing energy efficiency within their business operations (i.e., Scope 1 emissions). Business can then further reduce their emissions by purchasing electricity that comes from renewable sources of power generation (i.e., Scope 2 emissions). However, for some organizations their largest potential impact might take place outside of their operational footprint and results from emission reductions within their supply chain (i.e., Scope 3 emissions).

The question companies should ask themselves is: “How do we activate and accelerate action on climate using our spheres of influence?”

One answer can be found with the companies that have committed to move beyond Scope 1 and Scope 2 by signing on to the Science Based Targets Initiative, a collaboration of leading science-based organizations. Companies such as General Mills, MetLife, ADP, and 400 others, have committed to reduce their Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions.

While there is no “silver bullet”, Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) have provided a financing vehicle for companies to secure access to renewable energy, either on site or offsite, without having to use precious internal capital.

While green megawatts are critical to carbon reduction from renewable energy, “negawatts” from energy efficiency will be even more important given the cost effectiveness and speed at which it can be deployed.

Fortune 500 firms are again looking to financing solutions to spur investment and achieve scale in their carbon reductions. This includes Efficiency Services Agreements (ESAs), which are an emerging model for 3rd party owned building system infrastructure, including boilers, chillers, HVAC and lighting and building automation systems. These off-balance sheet service agreements allow organizations to upgrade while also achieving both energy and carbon reductions while preserving capital.

It’s time for more companies to act by activating their supply/ value chains. This one action has the potential to achieve energy efficiency and GHG reductions at an unprecedented scale and impact. Both PPAs and ESAs can be utilized to address Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by providing what is often missing from sustainability plans: namely, a sustainability budget.

Aristotle was right “the whole is greater than the sum or it’s parts” when it comes to combating the impacts of climate change. It is critical to our collective futures…. or in the words of another noted philosopher, Yoda, “Do or do not. …there is no try.”

The motto “Think Globally, Act Locally” has inspired people for decades, especially as it relates to the environment. This certainly applies to the bold political action currently happening in cities and states across the country.

At a time when the Federal government is MIA on issues like sustainability and energy efficiency, forward-looking leaders from cities big and small are Acting - showing how to implement smart energy policies and programs.

In New York, for example, both city and state are enacting innovative energy policies. On the state level, Gov. Cuomo recently committed to “a comprehensive and far-reaching energy-efficiency initiative” that emphasize pay-for-performance (P4P) solutions that deliver efficiency-as-a-service to local customers. In New York City, a City Council bill signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio in January makes the city’s energy codes among the nation’s most aggressive. The Mayor’s goal is to cut 80% of the city’s carbon emissions by 2050.

The Mayor of Seattle recently signed two bills that will allow Seattle City Light to offer additional incentives to commercial building owners in exchange for significant energy-saving retrofits to buildings, making it the first city in the nation with an energy efficiency-as-a-service program.

On a smaller scale, in Connecticut, Sustainability CT is an independently funded, grassroots, municipal certification program that recognizes “thriving and resilient Connecticut municipalities.”

Hopefully these local initiatives represent a larger trend that results in more smart energy policies like these, and in the process fosters robust private-public partnerships. If local governments create the right incentives and policy framework for businesses to become more energy efficient, including the use of financing options, local communities – as well as the global community - will reap the rewards.

Regardless of current administration policies on climate change, the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Agreement, U.S. companies small and large – and many with global footprints – are attuned to the value of energy innovation, responsive to a range of local and national regulatory requirements and concerned with the ramifications of climate change. If corporate America is going to truly fill the leadership void, energy efficiency planning and spending must be integrated and massively scaled. There are still too many companies implementing change on an ad hoc basis and they are likely to experience deleterious effects down the road.

Read more about innovation and corporate initiatives in energy optimization from Bob Hinkle on the Alliance to Save Energy blog here: http://ase.org/blog/financing-was-once-big-barrier-energy-efficiency-times-are-changing

Bob Hinkle is the founder and CEO of Metrus Energy, a developer and financier of large-scale energy and water efficiency projects.

Metrus’ portfolio of efficiency-as-a-service projects has generated energy savings representing roughly 372,000 tons of reduced CO2 emissions, equivalent to taking about 70,000 cars off the road. These savings come from a variety of efficiency technologies, from quick-payback LED lighting upgrades and control systems to longer payback chiller and boiler replacements. We’re proud of the environmental and financial benefits our projects have delivered to our customers, and we’re committed to multiplying these impacts as our portfolio continues to grow. As a signatory of the We Are Still In pledge and a financial partner in the DOE’s Better Buildings Challenge, we understand the important role energy efficiency has to play in climate change mitigation, and will continue to do our part to solidify energy efficiency as a major non-carbon energy resource.

More of a call to arms than a standard report; NRDC has thrown down the gauntlet and declared war on climate change inaction and lethargy. And it does so with an achievable action plan laid out in its America’s Clean Energy Frontier: The Pathway to Safer Climate Future. While other reports have reached the same conclusion that its feasible for the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, what makes the NRDC’s “80 by 50“ report groundbreaking is the path it developed to get there. Specifically, the NRDC uses “more aggressive—but achievable—assumptions on the potential to scale up energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean electrification, with a more robust technical analysis incorporating grid reliability impacts.” This also allows them to maximize the co-benefits of energy efficiency like “consumer bill reduction, reduced stress on the electricity grid, reduced air and water pollution, and fewer land use impacts.”

By emphasizing “bold, strategic investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean vehicles, and a stronger electricity grid” rather than relying on the costlier and riskier technologies such as new nuclear energy, biomass and natural gas, NRDC shares a vision of how to do better using the tools at hand. If that isn’t convincing enough, the scenario modeled even costs $30 billion less in 2050 than a no-action scenario. It is hard not to agree with Roland Hwang, director of NRDC’s Energy and Transportation program, who says, “The world is telling us in every way possible that it’s time to cut the fossil fuel pollution driving climate change and threatening our future. We have the solutions in hand, as NRDC’s report shows.” We just can’t fail to act. Join the clean energy revolution. For those wondering how to get to scale, efficiency-as-a-service provides a launching pad.

Read the report @ https://www.nrdc.org/resources/americas-clean-energy-frontier-pathway-safer-climate-future

Here are hundreds of success stories in which government entities and businesses have saved millions of dollars through efficiency upgrades. So the benefits of energy efficiency benefits are well known. Yet today in 2016, with a keen focus on reducing environmental impact and lowering expenses, financing – or access to internal capital – remains the largest barrier to unlocking energy savings. Energy managers often struggle to get their projects approved internally, leaving savings on the table and shelving key building and equipment upgrade projects. The opportunity cost of unrealized energy savings is staggering and unfortunate.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) recognizes this issue and recently offered a workshop on how to successfully present energy efficiency projects to corporate financing teams. Although tailored to the retail industry, the content from the workshop is applicable to energy professionals in a variety of industries with case studies on project analysis as well as portfolio planning. Click on the link to Smart Energy Decisions which provides insight on how to present, communicate and advance projects with your company’s finance team and executive

management.

http://www.smartenergydecisions.com/blog/2016/07/25/workshop-financing-for-energy-and-sustainability?contact_id=35646&inf_contact_key=10f6f0267dde52475aadcddd0ea4cee11ecc7a79499b63260c0feb

Corporate sustainability is a trend that is only getting hotter! In an annual report on S&P 500 Index-listed companies, the Governance and Accountable Institute found that up to 81% of top U.S. businesses published sustainability reports in 2015. This is a dramatic increase from 2011, when a mere 20% of S&P 500 corporations claimed to be focused on environmental responsibility. Indeed, the rise in the number of companies setting sustainability targets is a great first step; however, these companies will not be able to meet their goals without effective financing strategies. In addition to covering the upfront costs, financing solutions are essential for tackling the longer payback and deep energy retrofits that produce sustainability benefits. Energy efficiency will need to play a vital role in the coming years if these top U.S. businesses are to carry out their plans to manage their energy expenditure. Sounds like now would be a great time for Metrus’s Efficiency Services Agreement! You can read more about the rise in corporate sustainability and the subsequent need for financing solutions here

It is high time that commercial buildings start to see the (LED) light. According to an HBS article, “A New Way to Think About Office Lighting,” office workers list wasted electricity, poor illumination and difficulty concentrating as their top three complaints. With today’s LEDs and digital control systems, there is no excuse for any of these inefficient nuisances–indoor environment can be vastly improved while “saving significant energy and money.”

Yet, retrofits in commercial buildings are still a new-ish industry with an estimated $63 billion in market value untapped. But times, they are a-changing with third-party providers increasingly offering lighting-as-a-service. As HBS points out, “third-party ownership models, which separate the ownership of an asset from the service it provides, have transformed other industries for the better” and are transforming lighting as well. Much like buying solar power not panels and trading negawatts for kilowatts, lighting can now be effectively sold as an outcome. Lumens, a measure of light intensity in a space, can now be monitored and measured remotely, which Rocky Mountain Institute calls “Lumens-as-a-Service” (LaaS). The big question for the industry: Will the LaaS model be a “game changer?”

Metrus has seen increased opportunity to add lighting upgrades to existing projects. In fact, in 2017 alone, Metrus has been lighting it up with close to 1,000,000 kWh per year of additional annual savings from new LED lighting upgrades added on to existing ESA projects with Kuakini Medical Center and our Fortune 50 customer. However, lighting upgrades have always been an important part of all of our ESA projects (dating back to 2010) as are heating, cooling and other efficiency-as-a-service offerings. Perhaps the real game changer is that customers and providers are finally ready to look at their buildings in a whole new light and incorporate all the benefits that efficiency-as-a-service can provide.

To learn more, read https://hbr.org/2017/06/a-new-way-to-think-about-office-lighting

*PURPA was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on November 9, 1978

What a long and winding road the energy efficiency market has traveled. From the perch of this exciting moment for efficiency-as-a-service, it is worth looking back at the efficiency milestones of the previous decades to understand just how far we have come. In the early days of energy efficiency, the focus was on conservation and just using less. In the late 1970s, the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) fostered efficiency in energy production by encouraging non-utility cogeneration and smaller scale renewables. Although PURPA focused on generation, it was a key milestone representing the moment when the marketplace began to value the efficient delivery of energy resources to customers. In the 1980s, utility DSM programs were the name of the game. The ESCO industry emerged to serve these programs and financing for performance contracts soon followed. The 1990s were a time when large private power producers financed generation projects under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

Once PPAs became an established financing tool, they acted as a catalyst to the as-a-service model in the clean energy world in the early 2000s. In particular, around 2005, solar PPAs created an important mind shift for customers who began to buy solar power and not solar panels. Efficiency Service Agreements (ESAs) built on solar PPAs success and began funding efficiency retrofits in 2009. ESAs kicked off the era of energy efficiency (EE) as-a-service and can be credited with the latest mind shift for end users who are now valuing efficiency as a resource by trading negawatts for kilowatts.

Metrus is proud to be a pioneer in the EE financing world. We feel we have benefited from all that has come before us in order to develop a successful financing solution that truly delivers efficiency-as-a-service to all of our customers. We continue to grow with this burgeoning market by integrating the lessons we have learned by developing, financing and operating ESA projects with Fortune 500 firms and institutional energy customers over the past eight years. First and foremost, for customers to gain all the multiple benefits and deep operational savings of efficiency-as-a-service, projects must be pay-for performance and be able to flexibly incorporate a wide range of efficiency measures including water, cogen and traditional ECMs. There is still much to do in order to unlock the full potential of the energy efficiency market.

To learn more, read Metrus’ BBC presentation: http://blog.metrusenergy.com/doe-better-buildings-challenge-the-history-of-energy-efficiency-as-a-service-by-metrus-energy/

A lot can change in three years, as Johnson Controls learned in its survey of 1,200 facility and energy management global executives. In 2013, when asked about their plans for future investments in energy efficiency, it was clearly not a corporate priority with only 42% of executives planning to increase investment in energy efficiency. The landscape has changed in 2016: the current survey has 72% of energy and facility managers expecting to increase energy efficiency investments. The multiple benefits of energy efficiency seem to becoming mainstream for businesses.

Most respondents cited the economic benefits of energy savings, while many included the myriad of other benefits like energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, benefits to employees, as well as government and investor expectations. While 31% of surveyed execs still say sufficient funding is a barrier, energy efficiency investment will be the smart business choice next year. In the U.S. alone, investment in energy efficiency is expected to increase by 68 percent. Financing solutions will play a key role. Get ready and read more

Are corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) the next big thing sweeping the global energy market? Renewable energy developers and customers certainly have reason to be optimistic. According to an article in Bloomberg New Energy Finance entitled, Companies buying green power – how big a trend?, creative and strategic solutions to corporate sustainability measures increasingly includes corporate PPAs as “energy-consciousness around the world will continue to grow.”

If strategic sustainability investments by name brand companies are a bellwether for the future, corporate PPAs may be here to stay. As the BNEF article notes, “In all, counting the first quarter of 2017, some 19GW of corporate PPAs have been signed worldwide so far, and among the companies most active in contracting to buy renewable electricity have been some of the biggest names of all.” As is always the case when it comes to energy trends, market forces will continue to produce new choices and alternatives that could impact how widely corporate PPAs are embraced.

While corporate PPAs enable companies to value and buy clean energy usually generated offsite, Metrus’ provides its customers with a similar vehicle, its ESA, to procure energy efficiency as-a-service. By harvesting energy and water savings on site that actually stem from the customer’s buildings and usage, ESAs have the added benefit of involving efficiency gains from existing facility operations. Corporate PPAs and ESAs can work in tandem to accelerate how quickly companies meet their sustainability targets.

Read more at https://about.bnef.com/blog/companies-buying-green-power-big-trend/

With a founding principle of “First, do no harm,” it makes a lot of sense that the health care industry is increasingly embracing sustainability measures and implementing waste reduction practices. Physicians see the health impact that climate change has on their patients. But by their very nature, hospital systems operate around-the-clock and are massive energy consumers–the second biggest in the United States.

Hospital systems are seeking to become leaner energy users and are discovering that energy efficiency upgrades can directly impact patient health and comfort, improve operational reliability, help meet sustainability targets and, with third-party financing, save millions with no upfront costs.

According to Healthcare Finance, “Hospitals save millions with sustainability programs, cut back on waste,” hospitals are targeting energy efficiency improvements and waste reduction to decrease their collective environmental footprint and save millions.

Currently, hospitals emit an estimated eight percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, produce more than 4.67 million tons of waste every year and use 7 percent of the country’s commercial water supply. Metrus has worked successfully with hospitals, like Kuakini in Hawaii to ensure that hospitals not only meet their sustainability goals, but improve energy resiliency, implement upgrades that enhance the quality of the hospital environment for patients, and save millions of dollars in energy costs. With the help of Metrus, Kuakini Medical Center was able to save $2.5 million in energy and operational costs. Since it is not easy to get an energy efficiency project prioritized and funded, access to financing is often what makes-or-breaks a project.

Whether government leadership believes it or not, the transition to a low-carbon economy is not only happening, but is accelerating. Since there is a clear business case for reducing emissions by implementing efficiency measures and using renewables, companies are publicly setting their own voluntary emission reduction targets in line with climate science.

As detailed in http://sciencebasedtargets.org/, science-based targets drive corporate climate action by increasing innovation, strengthening investor confidence, reducing regulatory uncertainty, and notably, improving profitability and competitiveness.

It is ironic that companies are voluntarily self-regulating their emissions while the government tries to loosen regulations and effectively move backward. On closer look, however, it is not as strange as it seems. It is evidence that companies believe in climate science and understand the negative impact business-as-usual will have.

Case in point: As the Trump Administration works to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an increasing number of Fortune 1000 firms are doubling down on low-carbon corporate commitments. We can’t afford the alternative. A recent Forbes article highlights that the cost to the U.S. economy of removing CPP regulations is estimated at $600 billion

https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2017/02/23/clean-power-plan-repeal-would-cost-america-600-billion-cause-120000-premature-deaths/#21eaac233b78.

Metrus is pleased to work with customers who continue to “future-proof” growth by incorporating sustainability initiatives into their business. Science-based targets are a step in the right direction.

In the current environment, it is easy to fret about the future of energy efficiency initiatives and clean energy policies. As highlighted in the ACEEE article, there is much that will come under review (and possibly the axe) over the coming months. However, it is important to remember that in the private sector, energy efficiency has never been overly buoyed by or reliant upon government intervention and support.

In fact, Metrus is seeing an uptick in action by our customers and the private sector in general. For business, energy efficiency is about improving the bottom line, increasing the resiliency of business operations and mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change on both people’s daily lives and long-term investments. Shifting political winds and turmoil will not disrupt the determined call to action to adhere to sustainability targets, especially when it is proving to be good for business.

In the built environment, tremendous steps have been taken in the way in which it collectively does business. This includes results generated by the following four private sector-led initiatives:

Better Buildings Challenge (BBC) Program: According to the BBC, since the program’s launch in 2011, the BBC’s business partners have cumulatively saved 160 trillion BTUs and $1.3 billion across 4.2 billion square feet—with financial allies investing $5.4 billion between 2012 to2015. Learn more at: https://betterbuildingssolutioncenter.energy.govWe Mean Business: Similarly, We Mean Business has started a “low carbon revolution” with 508 companies signing on—representing $8.1 trillion in total revenue, largely inspired by the Paris Agreement. More than ever before, the private sector understands that leadership on climate action makes business sense—U.S. companies are generating as much as 81% IRR on climate action investments. Find out more about specific actions being taken by companies at: wemeanbusinesscoalition.orgLow Carbon USA: To date, 950 companies across 46 states have joined the Low Carbon USA. Signatories (see list at lowcarbonusa.org) have more than $100 million in annual revenues and $5 billion in assets under management. These companies are publicly signing on to science-based sustainability targets that represent global commitments to climate change initiatives, including increased energy efficiency.Second Nature – Climate Initiative: It is not only corporate America who has voluntarily signed on to higher sustainability standards. At the higher education leadership network, Second Nature (secondnature.org ), more than 600 colleges and universities have committed to take action on climate change, including self-reporting of sustainability actions. These groups are holding themselves accountable and setting a standard not mandated by government or imposed by regulation.

Energy efficiency has always been the quickest and most cost effective route to sustainability. Going forward, investors and customers will increasingly value energy efficiency as they look to undertake climate change actions that will define the global economy of our future. Metrus is proud to be part of this private sector movement and will continue to provide financing to our customers to ensure that deep efficiency projects get done. It is unclear what impact the current administration’s climate change agenda will have, but it is crystal clear that the private sector is taking the opportunity to shape a better and more sustainable way to do business.

In a recent NRDC report entitled “Putting Your Money Where Your Meter Is,” pay-for-performance (P4P) efficiency programs in the United States are put under the microscope. And for good reason. With efficiency programs in the United States spending almost $8 billion annually to reduce energy waste, there is a need to accelerate energy efficiency nationwide, particularly in the private sector. The report analyzes leading P4P programs to determine whether or not these programs are increasing energy savings and stimulating innovation.

While the concept of P4P is not new—it has existed in various forms for more than 25 years—many of the historical programs were “widget-focused.” Encouragingly, newer P4P models are focused on comprehensive whole-building programs which achieve deeper savings levels.

NRDC’s report includes 22 case studies of past and current P4P approaches and Metrus is pleased to be included in this nationwide survey. With operational efficiency projects spanning from Hawaii to New Hampshire, Metrus’ P4P program uses its Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA) to develop, finance and own comprehensive whole-building (and often portfolio-wide) upgrades.

The report recognizes that “private investors and companies may have more flexibility to experiment and take on performance risk than utilities.” A key take-away is that P4P models are a necessary tool to use in order to capture the full scope of energy efficiency across all market segments. You can download a copy of the report here: https://www.nrdc.org/resources/putting-your-money-where-your-meter

Metrus has new projects in 2017 under development with both new and existing customers. The current commitment of businesses to increasing efficiency correlates directly to project development. Many of our customers and partners are part of the We Mean Business coalition http://www.wemeanbusinesscoalition.org/about and they, like the thousands of influential businesses and investors who have also joined, are committed to kick-starting the transition to a low-carbon economy. Energy (and water) efficiency will play a critical role and Metrus is ready to get energy and water projects funded and operational.

2017 is off to a strong start for with Metrus’ latest $1.2 million efficiency project in New York under construction and already generating energy savings. Annual energy savings for this project will be approximately $155,000. Metrus Energy’s current batch of operating projects are successfully supporting and enhancing the core aspects of our customers’ businesses including production, health, safety and sustainability. But even just by the numbers, our projects are exceeding expectations.

The cumulative kWh saved to date is approaching 40 million, with CO2 savings of 36,000 tons. The total cumulative savings for our operating projects exceeds $9.7 million, with average annual total savings reaching $4.2 million. These impressive savings include not only the energy savings that these efficiency projects generate, but important operational savings as well.

For more information about our projects, please click on the following link http://metrusenergy.com/what-we-do/project-case-studies/.

A recent Smart Energy Decisions article highlighted eight steps to win organizational support for energy efficiency projects defined by an “organized, data-driven approach.” Steps include using energy consumption baselines, identifying low-performing energy consuming equipment or facilities, tracking peak energy demand periods, and calculating the cost of inaction.

With Metrus, more efficient operations start with a preliminary energy assessment that leverages utility data combined with targeted, onsite analysis by our ESCO (contractor) partners. Utility data definitely speeds this phase of our work, but we believe that on-site investigation remains key to identifying specific efficiency improvements that are important to our customers. Metrus then integrates the technical analysis into a financeable project scope that meets a customer’s energy savings and operational objectives. Often this includes financing efficiency upgrades with a mix of shorter- and longer-term payback periods. Following project construction, Metrus funds and provides ongoing management services, including the measurement and verification of savings. So why go it alone? After checking out how to use utility data to win support for your energy efficiency project, come partner with Metrus to get your efficiency projects funded! You can find the Smart Energy Decisions article at: http://goo.gl/50yN0M and read more about Metrus here.

With 24-7 operating hours, it is no surprise that data centers are some of the most energy-consuming facilities in the world. For a corporation like Google that operates multiple large scale data facilities, energy expenditure can be as great as 5 million mega-watt hours per year. With electricity usage in data centers on the rise, many companies are turning to energy efficiency as a means of saving on energy spending. Improving server farm efficiency can be achieved in a number of ways: replacing old equipment, updating microprocessors and cooling fans, installing waterside economizers, and using more efficient storage devices to name a few.

Google–like a growing number of business community leaders–understands that the business case for energy efficiency and sustainability is as strong as the environmental case, and new opportunities for energy savings and efficiencies can always be found or developed. Just this year, the software company did something that had not been done before: they employed robots to manage over 120 data center variables including fans, cooling systems, and windows. With artificial intelligence at the helm, Google saw a 15% improvement in power-usage efficiency, saving millions of mega-watt hours. Whether your company prefers robots or latest efficiency upgrades in your data center or facility, energy efficiency measures are vital to reducing energy spending in our increasingly data-centric society. Even if you have undertaken energy efficiency upgrade projects, Google is demonstrating that there is always more that can be done and new ways to do it. With performance-based efficiency financing solutions, you don’t have to pay for the upfront costs of the next frontier. It is time to do more… Click the link to read more about Google’s artificial intelligence system

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/google-employs-artificial-intelligence-to-cut-data-center-energy-use

Metrus is actively working with food & beverage companies – and other industrial customers – on bundling energy and water efficiency projects into a single Efficiency Services Agreement (ESA). Although water is relatively cheap today for commercial & industrial (C&I) customers, a host of market trends and recent data suggests this will not continue. The environmental liability, scarcity value and true cost of operating a reliable water infrastructure network necessitate that building owners, including food & beverage customers, will increase utility charges for this finite resource. C&I customers have an opportunity to proactively manage their water consumption by implementing water efficiency upgrades alongside traditional energy efficiency projects. Financing energy and water retrofits under a services agreement can allow customer to implement projects that can improve operations and increase resiliency. Who wouldn’t drink to that? Learn more and read this Alliance to Save Energy article on the intersection of water and energy at breweries.

There are hundreds of success stories in which government entities and businesses have saved millions of dollars through efficiency upgrades. So the benefits of energy efficiency benefits are well known. Yet today in 2016, with a keen focus on reducing environmental impact and lowering expenses, financing – or access to internal capital – remains the largest barrier to unlocking energy savings. Energy managers often struggle to get their projects approved internally, leaving savings on the table and shelving key building and equipment upgrade projects. The opportunity cost of unrealized energy savings is staggering and unfortunate.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) recognizes this issue and recently offered a workshop on how to successfully present energy efficiency projects to corporate financing teams. Although tailored to the retail industry, the content from the workshop is applicable to energy professionals in a variety of industries with case studies on project analysis as well as portfolio planning. Click on the link to Smart Energy Decisions which provides insight on how to present, communicate and advance projects with your company’s finance team and executive management. Read more.

lot can change in three years, as Johnson Controls learned in its survey of 1,200 facility and energy management global executives. In 2013, when asked about their plans for future investments in energy efficiency, it was clearly not a corporate priority with only 42% of executives planning to increase investment in energy efficiency. The landscape has changed in 2016: the current survey has 72% of energy and facility managers expecting to increase energy efficiency investments. The multiple benefits of energy efficiency seem to becoming mainstream for businesses. Most respondents cited the economic benefits of energy savings, while many included the myriad of other benefits like energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, benefits to employees, as well as government and investor expectations. While 31% of surveyed execs still say sufficient funding is a barrier, energy efficiency investment will be the smart business choice next year. In the U.S. alone, investment in energy efficiency is expected to increase by 68 percent. Financing solutions will play a key role. Get ready and read more at http://www.smartenergydecisions.com/blog/2016/06/30/energy-efficiency-investments-will-increase-68-next-year-executive-survey-finds?

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems require significant amounts of energy and are a core element of many of Metrus’ operating ESA projects. The market for HVAC products has been growing steadily and has included several recent innovations and new approaches, including Dedicated Outside Air Systems (DOAS). This method separates heating and cooling processes from ventilation – essentially splitting the HVAC job in two by providing air circulation to interior spaces regardless of efforts to heat or cool a space. Learn more and hear what Energy Manager Today has to say about DOAS and its market potential in this article:

http://www.energymanagertoday.com/doas-a-new-approach-to-hvac-0124935/

With summer officially here, it is time to think about those energy efficiency “inflection points” that move companies to actually get energy projects done. It is encouraging that energy management is gaining acceptance as a corporate value that is being integrated by more and more companies. There are rising expectations for corporate sustainability and the increased understanding of the major business benefits of efficiency investments, which are positive trends. It is time to take the leap and “fully address energy efficiency.” Summer is heating up, now is the perfect time to cut energy spending while keeping your buildings cool. Read more

When talking about sustainability, “thawing” is not typically a word we want to hear – aren’t we trying to keep the planet cool? But what if rather than thawing polar ice caps we thaw billions of dollars? A recent report entitled “Energy Efficiency Finance for Commercial Buildings: Insights from Lenders” suggested that there is close to $72 billion frozen in undiscovered energy efficiency gains. Associates from The Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) believe that these investment opportunities are largely ignored because of the misconceptions building owners have about energy retrofits. They are doubtful that energy-efficiency retrofitting would deliver positive returns on investment. Commercial building owners also frequently see the financial benefits of energy-efficiency as “a luxury they cannot afford”. Perhaps then the most important step to take towards liquefying the frozen assets is eliminating the skepticism surrounding retrofit implementation and its positive returns.

Read more here: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/thawing-72-billion-market-commercial-energy-efficiency

Solar and wind may grab the headlines, but according to GTM Research’s latest report, CHP and Fuel Cells 2016-2026: Growth Opportunities, Markets and Forecast, the market for CHP and fuel cells are ready to light up with 11 gigawatts of expected growth by 2026. And that is not all: New incentives, capable vendors, new technologies and a new customer profile are setting up things up nicely for resumed growth. Further, it is interesting to note that the CHP market is being driven by non-industrial customers, while corporations and data centers lead the charge in California, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York.

Read more about this important development in customer-sited fuel-based generation. Here

A global (energy efficient) light bulb went on for policymakers and business leaders alike when the Paris Accord was signed: Climate change is big business and the business community is now all in. According to the analysis by We Mean Business, “Implementing the Paris Agreement will unlock at least $13.5 trillion of economic activity globally.” There is a seismic shift in corporate attitude which is spurring action, commitments and investments. With business leaders understanding the cost of inaction as well as the significant opportunity that efficiency investments and clean energy investments provide, they are signalling their support of governments commitments made in Paris. One hundred and ten companies signed the “Business Backs Low Carbon USA” statement of support for the Clean Power Plan as well as investments in a low carbon economy. It seems we are all ready to get to work and put the signed Agreement into action.

Read more here: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/we-mean-business-paris-accord-13-trillion-opportunity

For years, those of us in the energy efficiency industry have made the case for energy efficiency investments using the common sense tools at our disposal: energy efficiency upgrades result in energy savings which are good for the environment and make good economic sense. While energy savings are an excellent reason to undertake an energy efficiency project, the focus on the front-end investment (and resulting savings) severely short change the benefits of clean building investments. Thanks to a growing body of research about the benefits of green buildings, including research undertaken by United Technologies Corporation (UTC), it is increasingly clear that we are undervaluing the health and social benefits of clean energy and efficiency projects in the built environment. Improving things like the indoor air quality and lighting not only makes sense for the customer’s “bottom line,” the operation of the building and the environment, but it also “actually increases cognitive function” and productivity of building occupants and employees. It is time to start incorporating health and social benefits into the energy efficiency investment model .

Energy efficiency is consistently saving customers money. Even though it can’t be seen like a solar panel or a wind turbine the value generated is the cheapest option for fighting rising utility costs. In energy, conservation and creation are valued at the same price per kWh Read more