Fall 2011

ETAP to Save Public Agencies Over $1.8 Million Annually and Spur Green Jobs

A year into the 18-month program, the Energy Technology Assistance Program (ETAP), a part of the statewide Energy Upgrade California Program, is providing $2.3 million in rebates for energy efficiency retrofit projects in 60 California cities, counties, and public colleges and universities that are estimated to save 14.6 million kWh of electricity and $1.8 million in utility costs annually.

“With the help of ETAP and other energy savings programs, the City of Santa Cruz was able to retrofit two parking garages for the price of one. Energy and cost savings upwards of 50% were achieved at both garages and will continue into the future.” - Nathan N. Nguyen, City of Santa Cruz Public Works Dept.

As an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded program, ETAP is achieving its goals of stimulating the economy, creating and retaining jobs in California, and reducing California’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

“We’ve been able to use the ETAP rebates to leverage additional incentive dollars from our IOU [Utility] Partnership Program and accelerate projects that were nearly canceled due to the state budget crisis. CSU system wide, anticipates at least 10 ETAP projects installed this year on 5 different campuses, providing approximately $400,000 in annual cost savings and reducing GHG emissions by nearly 1,000 metric tons.” - Wesley Morgan, Energy Programs Manager, California State University

ETAP provides free technical support, implementation assistance, rebates and training to accelerate the adoption of advanced, market-ready energy efficiency technologies in California. The program focuses on three energy efficiency technologies: bi-level lighting in parking lots and garages, wireless lighting controls, and wireless HVAC controls. Participants include 13 University of California and California State University campuses, 5 community colleges, and 38 cities and counties.

“The ETAP wireless lighting controls retrofits will save CSU Long Beach over $20,000 per year in electricity cost savings. That will be of great help with our utilities budget, since the CSUs continue to face budget cuts from state funding. Plus this project helps us to meet our campus wide greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.” - Paul Wingco, Energy and Sustainability Manager, CSU Long Beach

The ETAP program stimulates the California economy. ETAP-supported products and technologies have been developed by companies with corporate headquarters or offices in California, including Adura Technologies, Cypress Envirosystems, Exergy Controls, Lutron, and Vigilent. All equipment purchased for ETAP projects must be manufactured in America, and most projects are installed by local contractors.

In addition, the ETAP program is helping to build a qualified workforce to deploy the targeted technologies and increase demand for cutting edge energy efficient technologies. To date, over 250 participants have taken advantage of ETAP installer trainings for electrical and HVAC contractors as well as educational seminars on technology best practices.

The program will run through March 2012. Cities, counties, special districts, non-profits and public colleges and universities in California are eligible to participate. Approximately $500,000 in rebates is still available to help fund new ETAP projects. Participants must act quickly to take advantage of the program, as projects must begin implementation by the end of this year.

The Energy Technology Assistance Program is supported by federal economic stimulus funding and administered by the California Energy Commission, as part of Energy Upgrade CaliforniaTM. ETAP is implemented by Energy Solutions, an energy and sustainability consulting firm headquartered in Oakland, California. Energy Solutions’ mission is to create large-scale environmental benefits by developing and implementing innovative, market-based approaches to increase sustainability through energy efficiency, water efficiency, and renewable energy initiatives. The company’s clients include state and federal regulatory agencies, investor-owned utilities, public utilities, local government agencies, commercial entities, institutional organizations, and non-profit organizations.

For more information visit www.energy-solution.com/etap.