Combined Heat and Power (CHP), also called “cogeneration”, has been around for more than a century. In parts of Europe and Russia, many central power plants produce both electricity and heat for nearby factories, office buildings, and apartment complexes. One of the first CHP systems installed in New York City was in 1929 in the New Yorker Hotel on 8th Avenue. In the last 20 years, more than a hundred systems have been installed around the City.

For years, on-site power producers (i.e. solar panel systems) in New York were compensated by utilities for excess electricity they injected into local grids (instead of being used on-site) based on a Net Energy Metering (NEM) rate equal to the utility’s all-in electric rate.

Happening currently, in a galaxy not so far away, is solar energy innovation. While solar energy is an expanding field, its usage is low compared to fossil fuels. Solar accounts for 2% and fossil 60% of US power, respectively. Limitations for solar power include storage costs and accessibility to sunlight. However, recent developments may further enhance solar power’s capacity.

While monthly energy use data is essential for benchmarking, interval data (e.g., usage in 15-minute or hourly periods) provides a wealth of additional insights on how a facility uses energy. For many years, Con Ed’s largest customers have had access to such data via meters that send data to the utility via telephone landlines or more recently via cellular communications. Often sporadic due to metering and communication problems, that process will soon be consigned to the technology scrap heap by new smart meters under the utility’s Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program was created and is maintained by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a private non-governmental organization. While a step toward improving general sustainability in buildings, the “energy” in the LEED name led many people to believe it would place energy efficiency high on its list of suggested activities. Fossil fuel consumption by buildings, either directly or via electricity use, is one of the largest contributors to the greenhouse gases that impact climate change, the foremost challenge to our future sustainability.

Benchmarking shows a building’s relative energy efficiency compared to its past usage, and similar facilities in the same geographic area. Such comparisons may help a building manager grasp potential savings if energy system upgrades were applied. Thousands of buildings are now participating in voluntary and mandatory benchmarking programs. Many have found the process useful, and some may find that it offers a few surprises.

Solar power is a renewable choice that many of our clients have embraced as part of a slew of solutions to lower their carbon footprint.  However, what happens when it’s cloudy outside, and the sun does not shine?  Bacteria-powered solar cells may be the solution!

Luthin Associates was involved in negotiating a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) that helped a well-established New York City University build the largest solar system installed in New York City. The 3.1-megawatt solar collection will offset a significant share of the electricity used by this university and its sister school located in the Bronx. This project is in support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s clean energy goal authorizing 50% of electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2030.

On-site battery power storage is a hot new energy option, but it does not come trouble-free. As Captain Kirk learned in Star Trek’s “Troubles with Tribbles” episode, some problems are easier to solve than others.

At this time, most utility batteries are being installed to manage frequency regulation, provide synchronized reserves, and other ancillary services of interest solely to grid operators. How much a retail power customer may save by installing a battery system, however, depends on a customer’s utility tariff rate, and how the power storage system is operated.

Bill Broadhurst has been Princeton University’s energy manager since 2009. During those 8 years, he has handled challenges that range from raising efficiency in buildings built before the American Revolution, to designing state-of-the-art systems for 21st-century facilities.

Princeton’s 10 million square foot campus in New Jersey has an advanced central plant, equipped with dual-fueled boilers and cogeneration, variable-speed pumps and motors, thermal energy storage, and free cooling through its cooling towers. Cogeneration, Thermal Storage, and Steam-driven turbine chillers minimize peak demand charges for cooling, and a centralized geothermal system is on the drawing boards. Power delivery to the campus from the local utility is on a high-tension real-time pricing tariff, with supply purchased from a competitive third-party supplier.