– Ben Austin, Findorff’s Sustainability Lead & Matt Zabel, Faith Technologies
Today’s facility environments are complex and can require active management to meet constantly evolving expectations. Building owners and operators must balance a wide array of needs across their portfolio and determine how their facilities and building systems can best support the goals of the organization. Central to these needs is a strategy to address energy efficiency, sustainability and resiliency within the building systems.
Findorff and Faith Technologies have long provided sustainable building solutions to our clients. Whether the goal is to reduce energy bills, assess renewable energy options, help meet climate goals or improve the resiliency of your facilities, system improvements can be worth the investment.
The tools and data provided by an Energy Monitoring System (EMS) deliver clear measurements for sustainability goals and give our clients the data they need to make informed decisions. While there are a variety of strategies available to facility operators, an EMS presents the most significant opportunity to reduce energy costs, while also helping to assess power quality issues before they make a negative impact.
An EMS requires centralized software that should have the following capabilities:
- Trending and database storage of energy usage
- Intuitive charts and dashboards that provide detailed information about the system’s health and chart real-time progress
- User-friendly reports that can be easily shared
- Alarming for down-time situations or issues that could lead to down time
For electrical metering, typical systems include a power quality meter at the utility entrance to the facility and power usage monitoring at key points downstream. Lower-level metering may be required by LEED, ASHRAE, or to measure specific sustainability goals. The system can also be used to drive further efficiency tracking.
For other metering, such as natural gas, water or compressed air, intelligent or pulse meters are placed at the facility feeds, as well as downstream if data for departments or processes need to be broken out separately.
While metering non-electrical energy sources can confirm usage and drive efficiency, there are several key benefits to monitoring an electrical system:
- Determining operational, process or equipment setting adjustments to lower usage or reduce peaks
- Alerting users to abnormal electrical conditions that would otherwise go unnoticed (i.e., power quality or peaks in usage). This helps avoid outages, down time or equipment failure
- Providing data in the event of a circuit breaker trip, to prevent recurrences
- Division of electrical bills, where allowed, to separate accounts or business division
- Support of green building standards or facility sustainability goals
Facility operators, armed with the information that an EMS provides, can assess their needs for the future. Typical questions we hear include:
- Where can we expand our facility with our existing electrical power distribution?
- How much energy is consumed compared to my other facilities or process lines?
- How much solar or other renewable power could our facility consume?
- How much energy does my new equipment use, compared to my old equipment?
Many clients question what the payback will be for an EMS at their site. This infographic shows some potential ROIs for a typical greenfield facility located in the U.S.Projected ROI for Energy Monitoring Systems
Facilities with very low utility rates or usage, or with one large electrical consumer tend to have longer ROI timelines. It’s almost always the most cost-effective to install metering equipment on a greenfield site during construction, rather than retrofitting an operating facility later, where shutdowns will be required for the installation. Brownfield sites with existing facilities are also good candidates for installing an EMS to better understand power consumption and develop energy usage plans to optimize building performance, while minimizing energy consumption. Here are some brief budget examples and projected ROIs based on typical energy rates and pricing from July 2021.
At Findorff and Faith Technologies, we provide our customers with technical solutions that drive results. An energy monitoring system helps customers reduce costs, prevent downtime and plan for the future. How can we support your energy monitoring needs?
Findorff really is different when it comes to the extra value we provide to our clients and our community – whether that is managing a school referendum, bringing sector experience to a project, or working shoulder to shoulder with others in the community to build a home for a family in need.
Our new slogan “Building & Beyond” is the promise to bring additional benefits to client relationships, projects, and the community. Recently, we collaborated with Exact Sciences and Habitat for Humanity of Dane County to help construct a home for a local family with limited resources.During the day-long event at the Exact Sciences’s headquarters on Madison’s west side, temperatures and energy levels soared. Nearly 150 Findorff and Exact Sciences employees helped frame walls later used to construct a home located on the City’s north side. Tara M. Rai, his wife Guarani and their two children will move in to their new home in a few short weeks. Tara says, “We are thankful and fortunate to be chosen to receive a Habitat home. I want my family to be safe and secure. I look forward to learning new skills by working with the Habitat volunteers.”Building is our craft, but going beyond is our privilege. We recognize that team building and community support are in our DNA!
Coming soon, find out more about how Findorff worked with the Wisconsin Historical Society on moving a century-old building.
Associated Bank has moved on to its next stage of renovations to its downtown Milwaukee office tower, about a year out from the scheduled move-in of about 400 employees. Green Bay-based Associated purchased the 28-story Milwaukee Center building, at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., in 2016. It renamed the building to the Associated Bank River Center, and has commenced major renovations. The tower is connected to the company’s private client services building, the Saint Kate hotel and others.
Gamber-Johnson employees will be moving into the firm’s new corporate headquarters. The new facility is 133,000 square feet and is located at 5001 Joerns Drive. Employees and their immediate family members will even enjoy a full gym on-site. Learn more here.
The committee is tasked with serious review of district facilities, and this group’s recommendation will be a major factor — though not the only factor — in the school board’s eventual decision about whether to go to referendum, and, if so, what building plan to shoot for.
J.H. Findorff & Son put on a Construction Camp for teenagers ages 13-18 Monday at Middleton High School in order to give them a hands-on experience in exploring careers in the construction industry. Findorff has hosted this camp for the last four years, not including 2020 due to COVID-19.
Construction work on the tallest residential building in Wisconsin is underway. In fact, it’s been underway for more than a month. But that didn’t stop developers Rick Barrett and Tan Lo from gathering with public officials Wednesday to ceremonially break ground on the $190 million The Couture.
Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras plans to build a $25 million, 40,000-square-foot music center on the 1100 block of East Washington Avenue. The new WYSO Center for Music will be home to rehearsal space for the 500 young musicians, ages 5-18, who receive instrumental music training through the 55-year-old organization.
The Sun Prairie Area School District (SPASD) is already planning to conduct construction work at Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School (CHUMS) in anticipation of the building’s transition into three different facilities in the fall of 2022. Summer 2021 work will consist of remodeling restrooms and updating finishes in selected rooms so the remodeled building can still function as CHUMS for the 2021-22 school year.
Post-pandemic higher education looks different. What does the future hold for high school students moving on to the next step? For some perspective on the college versus trade school debate, we attended a graduating senior’s “signing day.” Just one day after graduating from Horlick High School, Lynch signed his contract as a “registered apprentice”, and is already working for Findorff, building the new Racine Aquatic Center.