Energy Savings Program For Colorado's State And Public Buildings Announced By The Governor's Energy Office
Denver, CO - The Governor's Energy Office (GEO) is proud to announce the launch of a new program to significantly improve the energy efficiency of Colorado's state and public buildings using performance contracts. GEO pre-approved 11 energy service companies (ESCOs) to expedite this performance contracting process. Performance contracting is an affordable way to make investments in new energy-efficient equipment without up-front capital investment from the building owner. Through a performance contract, an ESCO will identify and evaluate energy-savings opportunities and then recommend and install a package of improvements. These improvements are paid for with the savings generated by improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs.
The following 11 Energy Service Companies have been pre-approved by the GEO: Ameresco Inc., Chevron Energy Solutions, Custom Energy, EMC Engineers, Ennovate Corporation, Honeywell Building Solutions, Johnson Controls Energy Solutions, Long Building Technologies, McKinstry, NORESCO, and Siemens Building Technologies.
While performance contracting has been a part of the GEO's work for several years, the catalyst for the expansion of this program came as a result of legislation passed during the 2007 session. The first is House Bill 1309, which calls for improved energy efficiency in schools. Secondly, Gov. Ritter signed "Greening Government" Executive Orders, which requires state buildings to reduce energy consumption by 20% over the next five years.
Gov. Ritter has emphasized energy efficiency's essential role in the New Energy Economy for Colorado and has set important goals for state and public entities to reach. This GEO program will be the primary tool with which we accomplish these goals to reduce the state's energy consumption in buildings.
"This new program makes it easier for customers, like state agencies or cities to confidently undertake the performance contracting process and eliminates literally months of time spent previously in qualification of each company. Not only will this save significant time upfront on these projects, but these 11 ESCOs are now going to bring performance contracting to the next level by encouraging renewable energy technologies such as solar and geothermal projects," said Tom Plant, director of GEO.
The first State entity to sign a performance contract under the new program will be Colorado State Parks. Elling Myklebust, the Colorado State Parks Division Energy Coordinator feels that this is a unique opportunity to ensure the future viability of State Parks.
"Our utility costs have increased 78 percent in the last seven years, with Natural Gas up a whopping 473% percent, and we believe this trend will continue. Working with the GEO and getting access to their pre-selected ESCOs will save us valuable time in selecting a reputable company that can help us identify and implement the best efficiency and renewable energy projects in our 42 parks across the state. The sooner we start, the sooner we save."
"This year, the Governor's Residence had two solar electric systems installed by Colorado solar companies. The systems were funded by savings from a performance contract on the Capitol Complex. We are proud to announce this new program in a building that demonstrates how performance contracting can promote energy efficiency and renewable energy," said Tom Plant.
SOURCE: Governor's Energy Office