A battery of real estate and energy executives at Banker & Tradesman’s Green on Green roundtable yesterday urged developers, architects and engineers to avail themselves of utility companies’ rapidly-expanding energy conservation programs, saying public and utility subsidies have made energy efficient improvements a boon to firms’ bottom lines.
"In general, we’re willing to pay a moderate increase, but with these measures, it’s always about the payback," said Peter Vanderweil, a construction manager for Boston Properties who’s overseeing Biogen’s new $17 million build-to-suit headquarters.
As a developer, Boston Properties has been a forceful advocate for green office space. The company’s flagship Prudential Tower recently earned an Energy Star label, and it’s currently constructing high-performance green buildings at Russia Wharf in Boston, and at Biogen’s new home in Weston. However, Vanderweil said, any green initiative the firm undertakes "needs to make business sense. The cost is right up there."
He said if an efficiency mechanism can’t pay back its cost between two and eight years, he won’t put it in front of his bosses.
"We lean on the utilities to bridge that gap. These utilities need to spend these dollars. If you’re proactive in reaching out, I’d really encourage you to do that."
Mark Siegal, an executive with National Grid, said new state policies will soon cause utilities’ efficiency budgets to triple.
"In order to double or triple savings, we have to do more projects, deeper projects," he said. Previously, much of the work National Grid did for commercial property owners consisted of lighting retrofits. Now, he said, "we realize we need to go deeper in customers’ buildings." His firm is pushing rebates for bigger mechanical components like HVAC systems.
"We can pay up to 50 percent, buy it down to a one-year payback," Siegal said. "The incentives can be fairly substantial."
Century Bank, for example, received $138,000 in efficiency incentives for improved lighting and a high-tech chiller. The firm is now netting $35,000 in annual savings from trimming 300,000 kilowatt-hours off its energy bill. Whitman Hanson high school received incentives totaling $372,000, and is saving $100,000 annually. A 40,000-square-foot office building in Billerica only had to foot the bill for $9,200 of $30,500 in efficiency improvements; the building’s owner is now saving more than $8,000 per year in electricity costs.
National Grid consultant Susan Dagher said the utility’s goal in pushing efficiency is "market transformation." She said, "It’s about getting the market to do it on its own. The idea is to change the mindset, get customers to see why it’s important to reduce your consumption. Sometimes we offer a little financial incentive. As we go forward, the whole idea is to get the market to take it on themselves. It is happening."
