CO Monitoring Systems for Your Underground Garage

Presently, exhaust fans in the underground garage of your building should be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week if you do not have a Carbon Monoxide Monitoring System installed. Contrary to popular belief, it is a violation of the building code for exhaust fans to be cycled or shut down at any time during the course of a day unless there is a CO Monitoring System in place. Section 6 of the Ontario Building Code states that an enclosed storage garage should have a) a mechanical ventilation system to limit the concentration of carbon monoxide to not more than 100 parts per million of air or b) provide, during operating hours, a continuous supply of outdoor air at a rate not less than 3.9L/s for each square metre of the floor area.

If your fans are running 24 hours a day for seven days a week it is possible that the implementation of a CO Monitoring system could generate savings for the corporation. In this case paybacks are generally between 2 to 4 years. The incentive is double that of lighting retrofits - CO Monitoring systems garners an incentive of $0.10kWh. To book a garage assessment, please contact the sales department at Provident Energy at 416-736-0630, extension 5.

What incentive rebates are available for common area retrofit projects?

(Excerpt from Condo Business Magazine Online (part of the REMI network). Click here for the full article.)
 

There are several electrical and natural gas incentives available for energy-saving retrofits. Some of these incentives can provide a condominium with a rebate of up to 50 per cent of the project costs.

If a condominium is interested in electrical savings, the saveONenergy programs are offered through local utilities and are funded through the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). A wide variety of retrofits qualify under saveONenergy, including lighting, carbon dioxide monitoring systems, controls, building envelope, variable frequency drives and building automation systems.

There are three different streams for the saveONenergy retrofits. The prescriptive option allows a condominium to simply select from a list of measures that come with a matching per-unit incentive. Through the engineering and custom tracks, lighting retrofits are generally eligible for $0.05 per kilowatt-hour saved and non-lighting retrofits are eligible for $0.10 per kilowatt-hour saved.

If a condominium is interested in natural gas savings, Enbridge offers incentive rebates for retrofits such as variable frequency drives or building automation systems. Upon the successful implementation of an eligible project, customers may receive an incentive payment based on a rate of $0.10 cubic metres of natural gas saved.

The incentive application process for saveONenergy and Enbridge are similar: the retrofit project must be approved prior to implementation. A condominium’s application and specifications will be reviewed by an incentive program technical advisor to ensure the retrofit meets the program requirements. Once the retrofit project is complete, additional documents and site visits are required.

Understanding all the fine print of the incentive programs can be confusing but most energy efficiency contractors will assist with the incentive application process as part of their scope of work. Make sure to ask the contractor to estimate the anticipated incentive and clarify who is responsible for the applications. Although incentives have been available for years, it is surprising how many condominiums are still not taking advantage of them.

Lighting - Where to Begin?

Many Condominium Corporations think of lighting as the easiest way to attain savings on a large scale. The obvious reason being the fact that the majority of the lights in a Condominium must remain on at all times, or do they? This question and several others will be addressed in this article.

 

Provident Energy is Toronto Hydro's featured ARI

We were recently featured by Toronto Hydro for our Applicant Representative experience and success as we have helped many clients with incentives for energy saving retrofits.

Toronto Hydro works with contractors and dealers to help you apply for the RETROFIT PROGRAM.

• We have trained Applicant Representatives (AR) who will work with you and take care of your application. They have the experience to make it easier for you!
• The incentives can be significant, so the application process is detailed. Depending on your project, different levels of incentives are available.

For more information on the Toronto Hydro Applicant Representative program, please visit their website.

Free Energy Assessments

If your building is interested in energy efficiency retrofits, Provident Energy offers free energy assessments. The first step would be a site visit where Provident Energy will examine all common areas to indentify potential energy saving retrofits (lighting, mechanical equipment, etc). We will then send you a report which will outline the cost of the various retrofits (as installed by Provident Energy), the estimated energy savings, and the estimated incentive. This energy assessment and proposal is free. Please also note that all quotations are complete turn-key solutions: supply, installation, recycling, incentive applications, and project management by Provident Energy.

Some of our retrofit options include:

• Building Automation Systems (BAS)/ Energy Management Systems (EMS) with 24-hour a day Energy Management System Monitoring
• Variable Frequency Drive Installations on make-up air units, pumps, and cooling towers
• Lighting Retrofits (corridors, garages, stairwells, etc)
• Lighting Controls/Occupancy Sensors in Common Areas
• CO Monitoring for Underground Garages
• Individual Sub-metering Utility Systems (electrical, thermal, water)

 

If you are interested in this free energy assessment, please contact the retrofit sales department at info (at) pemi.com or 416-736-0630, ext 5 to arrange for a site visit.

Prime Time for Cooling Retrofits

With the impending cooler weather creeping upon us day-by-day, condominiums are prepping for changeover to heating. This is a prime time to consider the retrofit of the existing cooling tower to be controlled via Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs). After change-over has occurred, the cooling tower sits idle for several months until mid-spring, when changeover back to cooling takes place.

During this time VFDs, can be intertwined with the cooling tower without any effects on residents due to the cooling tower being dormant. A cooling tower operates off, low, or high to maintain the proper condenser water temperature. The fan motor is sized for the maximum load. A variable frequency drive can instead be used to exactly match the condenser load, saving energy in the process.

For more information or to arrange a free assessment to determine potential energy savings, please contact the sales department at Provident Energy at 416-736-0630, extension 5 or visit our website www.pemi.com

Free Energy Assessments

If your building is interested in energy efficiency retrofits, Provident Energy offers free energy assessments. The first step would be a site visit where Provident Energy will examine all common areas to indentify potential energy saving retrofits (lighting, mechanical equipment, etc). We will then send you a report which will outline the cost of the various retrofits (as installed by Provident Energy), the estimated energy savings, and the estimated incentive. This energy assessment and proposal is free. Please also note that all quotations are complete turn-key solutions: supply, installation, recycling, incentive applications, and project management by Provident Energy.

Some of our retrofit options include:

• Building Automation Systems (BAS)/ Energy Management Systems (EMS) with 24-hour a day Energy Management System Monitoring
• Variable Frequency Drive Installations on make-up air units, pumps, and cooling towers
• Lighting Retrofits (corridors, garages, stairwells, etc)
• Lighting Controls/Occupancy Sensors in Common Areas
• CO Monitoring for Underground Garages
• Individual Sub-metering Utility Systems (electrical, thermal, water)

If you are interested in this free energy assessment, please contact the retrofit sales department at info (at) pemi.com or 416-736-0630, ext 5 to arrange for a site visit.

Natural Gas Incentive Programs

If your condominium corporation is interested in Variable Frequency Drives and Energy Management Systems – now is the perfect time to proceed. Enbridge is offering double the natural gas incentive amount for VFD retrofits for a limited time.

A couple of items to note:

• the promotion is limited to the first 200 applicants
• the program will run from June 4, 2012 to September 28, 2012
• upon successful implementation of an eligible project, customers may receive an incentive payment based on a rate of $0.20 per cubic meter (m3) of natural gas saved
• the maximum incentive amount is capped at 50% of the project cost

If you have any questions or would like an updated quote on Variable Frequency Drives and Energy Management Systems, please contact the sales department at Provident Energy at 416-736-0630, extension 5 or email them at info@pemi.com

Free Energy Assessments

If your building is interested in energy efficiency retrofits, Provident Energy offers free energy assessments. The first step would be a site visit where Provident Energy will examine all common areas to indentify potential energy saving retrofits (lighting, mechanical equipment, etc). We will then send you a report which will outline the cost of the various retrofits (as installed by Provident Energy), the estimated energy savings, and the estimated incentive. This energy assessment and proposal is free. Please also note that all quotations are complete turn-key solutions: supply, installation, recycling, incentive applications, and project management by Provident Energy.

Some of our retrofit options include:

• Building Automation Systems (BAS)/ Energy Management Systems (EMS) with 24-hour a day Energy Management System Monitoring
• Variable Frequency Drive Installations on make-up air units, pumps, and cooling towers
• Lighting Retrofits (corridors, garages, stairwells, etc)    
• Lighting Controls/Occupancy Sensors in Common Areas                                
• CO Monitoring for Underground Garages
• Individual Sub-metering Utility Systems (electrical, thermal, water)         

If you are interested in this free energy assessment, please contact the retrofit sales department at info@pemi.com or 416-736-0630, ext 5 to arrange for a site visit.

Incentives Paying You to Save Energy

The number one ongoing cost for any condominium corporation, is the cost incurred through the consumption of energy. The OPA (Ontario Power Authority) is providing the funding for local utilities to provide a new set of incentives to help multi-unit residential dwellings facilitate energy efficient retrofits. This incentive program will be available from March 2011 through to 2014. The new Save ON Energy program follows many of the same guidelines of previous incentive programs, except for a few key differences. Instead of providing $0.07 per kWh or $400/kW in demand reduction for lighting retrofits they will be providing the greater of either $0.05 per kWh or $400/kW with a maximum of 50% of the retrofit cost being covered by the incentive, which is up from the previous cap of 40% (for custom and engineered track). For non-lighting retrofits an incentive of either, $800/kW or $0.10/kWh of first year electricity savings to a maximum of 50% of project costs.