Los Angeles County Public Agency Efficiency Program

As part of the Public Goods Charge Energy Efficiency Funding Program for calendar years 2004 and 2005, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) awarded a partnership proposal by Los Angeles County's (County) Internal Services Department (ISD), Southern California Edison (SCE), and the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) to fund worthwhile energy projects within County facilities. The County is supplementing this award with in-kind contribution of project management, administration, security, and other overheads.

This partnership proposal emphasizes cost effectiveness and known energy savings by combining the utilities' capabilities in effectively administering CPUC energy efficiency programs with ISD's existing technical and administrative infrastructure for developing and managing site-specific projects. The proposal also highlighted the potential for reaching new markets and working with other entities by proposing specific projects with the Community Development Commission/Housing Authority (CDC/Housing Authority) and proposing to bring other Public Agencies and local governments together in assessing regional, public agency energy needs.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Retrofit Program:

The proposal's retrofit program includes comprehensive audits and installation of Energy Conservation Measures in over 65 County facilities including courthouses, libraries, health centers, and others spanning over 1.2 million gross square feet. The program will achieve sustainable reductions in electricity demand and consumption at a proposed program cost of about $ 1 million. 

The retrofit program is subdivided into lighting retrofits at over 60 facilities, building-wide lighting controls at five facilities, and chiller retrofits at 2 facilities. Similar retrofits have been ongoing in the County's large and medium sized facilities since 1995. This program (especially lighting retrofits) will target smaller facilities ranging from 2,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. The sites are grouped into four service territories which cover the large geographic area of the County; this gives smaller contractors the opportunity to bid on individual territories.

The measures include lamp and ballast replacement, installation of new high intensity discharge lamps, EXIT signs, state-of–the-art building-wide lighting control systems and new chillers. The program will result in the reduction of over 2 million kWh per year and a permanent demand reduction of 500 kW. Equally important is the elimination of over 3 million pounds of CO₂; over 25 thousand pounds of NO_x and 11 thousand pounds of SO_x into the environment.

Retro-commissioning Program:

The proposal also introduces a building retro-commissioning (RCx) program into the County's larger facilities; this phase was budgeted at about $2.5 million. The RCx program would target the County's larger facilities with centralized building heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in an effort to "tune-up" the operations, scheduling, and maintenance of these systems. The RCx program will utilize the County's Enterprise Energy Management Information System (EEMIS), an online, near real-time energy monitoring and management system which displays and archives energy consumption and HVAC information for over 100 County facilities. 

Through a competitive bid process which included over 30 candidate buildings in the County's 4 geographic regions, the partnership selected EMC Engineers, Inc. to complete this program.

The awarded scope of work includes implementation of RCx measures in 10 County facilities comprising over 1.5 million total square feet. The award was made at a fixed price cost of nearly $1.15 million to audit, analyze, and recommend energy savings measures in the HVAC systems. The remaining budget will be used to implement the RCx measures identified, including $500 thousand to implement natural gas savings measures. The program also includes implementing ongoing system diagnostic tools to ensure efficiency in future operating and maintenance practices. This program is estimated to save reduce energy consumption by over 900 kW and about 1.8 million kWh per year.

Public Housing Project:

ISD also coordinated with the CDC/Housing Authority in an effort to show how these entities could work together in implementing innovative projects in what the CPUC recognizes is a "hard to reach" market. Under the direction of SCE and a "smart meter" contractor, information devices that indicate real time energy consumption data and energy budget projections will be provided to public housing residents. Over 300 of these units will be installed in low-income housing apartments for which the tenants are responsible for the utility bills. The program will provide an information/education presentation for the tenants prior to an observation and monitoring period. The tenants' response to information provided by the devices will be studied. Information provided to them includes consumption to date, bill amount to date, and projected end-of-month consumption and bill amounts. 

The partnership believes that the CPUC is very interested in testing energy efficiency benefits driven by behavioral response as well as how to penetrate low income, residential sectors. The partnership will also help facilitate SCE's other Low Income Housing energy efficiency rebate programs into CDC/Housing Authority facilities.

Technology Transfer Project:

Lastly, SCE, SoCalGas, and ISD will conduct a feasibility study of how the administration and implementation of energy efficiency throughout the Southern California region may be improved on behalf of various local Public Agencies and local governments. The study will examine whether and how to make a technical assistance program between public agencies permanent. Governments and public agencies all have some degree of in-house, energy management expertise. Because the sizes of these customers vary dramatically (from Los Angeles County and the State of California at one end to small cities and counties at the other end), the size and depth of knowledge of these resources are as varied. Additionally, energy management expertise may reside under the jurisdiction of several different internal organizations (finance, facilities management, or general services administration). The CPUC recognizes that groups of local governments, public agency alliances, and other natural collaborations could be more effective in developing and implementing energy programs

In developing the feasibility study, the partnership will interview various public agency facilities managers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and other, similar regionalized energy entities throughout the state. Upon completion of the feasibility study, the partnership will convene a workshop to discuss how to implement the study findings. The partnership is aware that there are similar programs funded by the CPUC for 2004-2005, and will take care to coordinate with those entities to avoid duplication. 

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