Application Note

2 Fluke Corporation Banding together to conserve resources
on resource usage. By sharing
Boge’s time, they gain insights
to help them achieve long-term
savings. These public officials
are spread thin. They handle
some work themselves, but they
rely on local HVAC/R and electri-
cal contractors to handle new
construction and retrofits—and
often, to provide sound advice.
Boge sees his role as both
advisor and teacher. “I train the
staffs of participating jurisdic-
tions in resource conservation
management practices, so they
become more self-sufficient, and
don’t necessarily need to rely on
someone else,” Boge said.
A question of relationships
Nine bosses? Boge’s challenges
don’t end there. He spent most of
his first six months as a shared
RCM populating the database,
attending meetings, and making
phone calls to build relationships
with people who count: building
and grounds managers, conser-
vation-minded employees, and
local government leaders.
He maintains close contact
with his government clients (he
reports monthly to the Skagit
Council of Governments), as well
as the local gas and electric
power utilities. The power com-
pany’s RCM Support Group and
local energy engineer provide
important technical support.
And the company helps fund the
three-year shared RCM program,
provided that Boge’s clients meet
annual milestones for reducing
power use.
From park restrooms to librar-
ies, city halls and public safety
buildings to water and wastewa-
ter treatment plants, Boge checks
energy consumption and other
utility usage in 125 facilities—a
total of 1.2 million square feet
(.1 million square meters).
When he started late in 2008,
he worked alone. He scrutinized
natural gas and electricity con-
sumption for his agency clients,
using Utility Manager
™
software
to reveal monthly usage patterns
where opportunities existed. He
also became familiar with the
power utility’s Energy Interval
Service (EIS), which records
individual readings in 15-minute
increments for special electric
meters connected through the
web. He used EIS reports to
reveal daily usage and patterns
where opportunities showed: a
spike in electricity usage at 4
am, for instance, in an empty
library.
Later he gained a part-time
assistant who helped him with
data entry. That gave him time
to look at other utility costs,
including sewer, water, and
garbage. And just recently,
with support from a state-wide
shared RCM initiative, he added
a part-time facility management
conservation technician to help
Boge’s clients with the highly
detailed paperwork required to
apply for the energy conserva-
tion grants that the electrical
utility has available. The addi-
tional technical staff support
is provided through a Recov-
ery Act grant provided by the
Washington State Department of
Commerce.
Common projects for energy-
efficiency grant incentives
include lighting retrofits and
HVAC systems and controls.
Replacing T-12 lamps with
new generation T-8 fluores-
cent bulbs and ballasts, for
instance, requires specifying
exactly which model numbers
are coming out, and what new
gear is going in. “For the facili-
ties people we work with, even
having the time to fill out the
paperwork accurately and make
sure it’s all submitted as it needs
to be is difficult. We can help
them at least get the paper-
work done and in, and they can
choose to have the work con-
tracted out, or do it themselves,”
Boge said.
New light in the library
In the spacious Anacortes Public
Library, built in 2003, facili-
ties manager Russ Pittis recently
swapped out first generation
T-8s with the even more effi-
cient second generation T-8s.
Those near the windows he
equipped with light sensors that
dim the lights during daylight
hours, returning them to full
illumination at night.
Pittis has also adjusted the
building’s HVAC systems.
He reprogrammed the three
gas-fired boilers to run more
efficiently and shut down 11 of
the building’s 37 air-handling
units. The library is equipped
with 14CO
2
sensors to help with
Boge and Pittis use the Fluke 975 AirMeter
™
tester to spot-check air quality in the Anacortes Public Library.