LA 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 NOx and
11 thousand pounds of SOx 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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