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When I first moved to Seattle from Wisconsin, in 1964, my parents were amazed that our power bill for an entire three-bedroom home was only $6 per month. At that time the area was undiscovered, under-populated, provincialistic and with a tremendous amount of power capacity available principally through hydroelectric generation. When I moved back to the area in 1998, I found the area discovered, cosmopolitan, over-populated and with basically the same amount of electrical power capacity as it had in 1964.

Twenty-five years ago, the Seattle City Council decided that it made sense to significantly offset the City’s dramatically increasing electrical power demands by conserving electrical power rather than building another hydroelectric generating dam in the mountains that would have cost $100 million and left a negative impact on the environment. Seattle City Light was given the charge, by the Council, to form and oversee a program that would decrease power demand by as much as 25 percent through energy conservation measures.

The Energy Smart Services bureau was formed within City Light to implement that program of energy conservation for Seattle. They were to partner with customers to offer technical assistance and financial incentives to help integrate efficient technologies and strategies into their businesses in order to decrease energy consumption. The program is funded with assistance from the Federal Government’s Bonneville Power Administration and energy conservation surcharges to its customers.

Existing significant power users like the Washington State Convention and Trade Center were targeted for inclusion in the program. Improving the Center’s bottom line was as an important motivation in getting involved with the Energy Smart Services, as were concerns about the environment. It was furthermore recognized that by improving the lighting quality of a 16-year-old building, we would improve the Center’s marketability.

To date, the Convention Center has completed several large projects with Energy Smart Services, which are saving the Center slightly more than 2,000,000 kWh per year. Included in those provisions and modifications were:

• Adding seven new rapid rise/lowering freight doors to keep heat and cooling in the building during events rather than escaping through open freight doors.
• Installing two variable frequency drive units for our chillers, which allow that machinery to operate at a lower rate when demand requirements are less than the capacity of the chiller.
• Completing one major lighting retrofit project that replaced numerous old incandescent light fixtures with energy efficient fluorescent lights.
• Two additional lighting projects that are now in the works that are featuring LED lights, which are expected to result in an additional savings of 302,000 kWh or about $18,000 per year.

An additional but very important element of our overall energy conservation strategy was to refine some of our methods of operation and how we managed our events. In 2002 the WSCTC implemented a policy that resulted in the provision of lighting and HVAC services that better paralleled our actual event hours. We made a special effort to inform our leasers of that change. We were delighted by the response as our renters liked energy conservation for social reasons and they recognized that by lowering our operational costs we could keep our prices to them at a competitive rate.

Our completed projects, to date, have had a significant impact upon our bottom line by annually saving the facility over $125,000 in electricity charges and another $20,000 in steam.

Energy Smart Services can provide financial incentive grants of up to 70 percent of the capital costs associated with an energy retrofit. All calculations are based upon saved kWh rather than project cost. Energy Smart’s rebate is given to the Center after the projects have been paid for by the Convention Center and inspected for completeness. The typical “pay back” for the actual “out-of-pocket” costs associated with our projects have been two years or less. City Light must approve projects before they can be started.

The program offers several methods for providing its customers rebates for their installations, including:

• Simple Rebates Simple Rebates offer a flat per-unit funding amount for such items as Exit Sign Replacements ($30 each), wall mounted occupancy sensors ($30 each), and ceiling mounted occupancy sensors ($90 each).
• Standard Incentives Standard Incentive funding levels are determined by calculating the actual energy savings. Standard Incentives are offered for technologies like T5 and T8 fluorescent lamps, ballasts and fixtures with electronic ballasts, Compact fluorescent (with detachable lamps), and central lighting controls, variable speed drives retrofitted on HVAC variable air volume fans, and Premium efficiency motors. Based upon the amount of power saved, these incentives can be as much as 70 percent of the capital costs of the project.
• Custom Incentives Any Energy Conservation Measure that reduces kWh consumption without fuel switching may be considered. Our rapid rising/lowering freight doors received funding under this area.

Energy Smart Services Program’s main objective is to motivate its customers to purchase more efficient equipment than they would in the absence of funding assistance.

The program also encourages its customers to reach beyond the standard energy conservation practices and use promising new technologies. Energy Smart Services considered our rapid rise/close overhead freight doors as a new and innovative application. We are now researching a new motion detector that is specifically designed for garage operations, which would also fall within this area.

Technical Assistance Services provided by Energy Smart Services include:

• Facility Assessments Energy Smart Services will conduct a free and complete assessment of the facility, based upon consumption patterns, of energy conservation measures that centers By Larry Dittloff, CFE could be employed and its eligibility for City Light reimbursement.
• Energy Analysis Assistance This service is offered for new construction projects and major remodels. Energy Analysis Assistance helps designers and customers include a discussion of annual costs of electricity and funds available for an expanded energy conservation design.
• Building Commissioning Building commissioning is a systematic process for ensuring that the energy systems within a new facility are in accordance with its design intent, contract requirements and owner’s operational needs.
• Operations and Maintenance Assistance Equipment efficiency is dependent not only on the initial selection, but also on careful operations and maintenance over the life of the equipment. Energy Smart Services promotes energy efficient operations and maintenance programs.
• Plug Load Services Free installation of “VendingMiser™” that can reduce energy use by up to 40 percent on those machines. Seattle’s City Light program is not unique to the Pacific Northwest. I have had previous and similar energy conservation experiences with Florida Power at the Orange County Convention Center and Northern States Power Company, now Xcel Energy, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It makes a great deal of business and environmental sense to participate in an energy conservation program that utilizes energy saving technology.

Larry Dittloff is a 28-year industry veteran and currently operations plant manager at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. He is the 2004 recipient of Power Player Award for exemplary commitment to energy efficiency, He can be reached at Idittloff@wsctc.com.

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