Case Studies
Healthcare System
One of New York’s Largest Employers Gets Energy Relief
with Gotham 360
Gotham 360 helped one of the largest employers in New York save millions in energy costs and improve efficiency with a highly sophisticated energy management program. The dramatic results were recognized nationally and won the client four consecutive awards for Sustained Excellence and Leadership in Energy Management.
The Client is a large healthcare system responsible for serving 1 in 4 patients in the greater New York metro area. With over 14 million square feet of energy intensive space and an annual energy spend in excess of $70 million, this client called on Gotham 360 to help them find a better way to increase energy efficiency performance and reduce energy expenditures.
The Challenge for this expansive project was to evaluate the situation with a true “360 degree” approach and produce a series of energy initiatives that reached across all of Gotham 360’s service lines. The plan included:
◄ development of a comprehensive demand response strategy
◄ pursuit of economic development energy discounts
◄ fuel and electricity cost auditing
◄ competitive deregulated energy procurement across all fuels
In addition, Gotham 360 performed building benchmarking across the aggregate portfolio of buildings to rank energy efficiency performance and enrolled the client in several government programs that supported the client in their efforts to promote successes in energy management. The net result of this comprehensive and programmatic approach was the client winning four consecutive national awards for Excellence and Leadership in Energy Management, while saving millions of dollars in operating costs and improving the environment.
The Solution required Gotham 360 to work on a series of parallel efforts to achieve the above objectives. For procurement assistance, Gotham 360 collected account information and historical energy cost and usage data. After determining the appropriate pricing product to meet the system’s needs, Gotham 360 identified and pre-qualified suppliers interested in bidding, solicited competitive bids and negotiated contract terms. This portfolio of energy supply represented an annual demand of more than 50-megawatts of peak electricity load, 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 5 million gallons of fuel oil.
Gotham 360 worked closely with the client to evaluate options for demand response participation, including the presentation of a “risk/benefit” matrix detailing the income potential and penalty risks for each available program within the client’s ISO territory. To further control risks, Gotham 360 supervised curtailment audits and assisted in the development of curtailment plans that met the client’s risk profile while ensuring maximum revenues. A number of load-serving-entities were invited to bid competitively on this demand response portfolio and, upon receipt of sealed bids, Gotham 360 helped the client evaluate the “best and final” offers and facilitated contract execution.
As one of New York State’s largest employers with more than 15,000 FTEs, this client makes significant contributions to the State’s economy. Gotham 360 uncovered they were entitled to apply for several State and City programs that reward economic contributions with discounted energy rates. Gotham 360 performed the necessary research and navigated the intricate series of required applications to secure these benefits on behalf of the client.
Following the execution of a competitive energy purchase, Gotham 360 always performs ongoing energy auditing services to ensure the billing is correct and compliant with all contractual terms. Often, billing mistakes are identified and refunds are secured on behalf of the client.
Energy benchmarking is a service that Gotham 360 recommends to all clients to identify areas for improvement across a portfolio of buildings. This important step also assesses improvement of a building’s “score” once energy improvement measures are taken. Gotham 360 performed benchmarking assessments across all 14 million square feet of this client’s real estate portfolio and, over the course of 4 years, assisted the client in improving their energy efficiency by more than 20%.
Upon execution of all supply contracts, Gotham 360 worked with the suppliers to establish billing data transfer directly to Gotham 360’s client service desk and worked with the client’s facilities staff to create reports for their general accounting group. Finally, the client was trained on Gotham 360’s online dashboard system allowing them to view energy usage and billing data, as well as download customized reports.
The Results of Gotham 360’s involvement, and the comprehensive nature of this client’s program, the client realized significant energy cost savings. In one year alone, the client saw dramatic financial benefits, such as:
◄ demand response program earnings exceeded $400,000
◄ economic development benefits totaled $200,000 and $2.7 Million respectively, across three awards (annual savings)
◄ a fuel audit resulted in a refund/credit of $305,000
◄ more than $3,000,000 in state grants for energy efficiency were secured
Gotham 360’s unique approach to energy procurement yielded savings in excess of $4 Million for the client’s fiscal year and helped them make additional improvements in overall efficiency through an investment in new central plant equipment.
With Gotham 360’s energy data management service, the client was able to:
◄ electronically verify invoices
◄ identify potential issues with equipment or meter misreadings for quick remediation
◄ improve accountability among building management
◄ enhance senior leadership’s ability to make decisions on energy efficiency investments
◄ establish a common data repository for Measurement & Verification of conservation projects to secure local and state grant funding
The efforts of Gotham 360 set the standard of what a comprehensive and programmatic approach to energy management is able to achieve. With Gotham 360 as the client’s interface and liaison, they have worked closely with the US EPA and Department of Energy to participate in Federal programs including the ENERGY STAR Partnership as well as partnerships dedicated to the development of combined heat & power and green power purchasing. Recognizing this client’s dedication to energy efficiency, the EPA has named them “Partner of the Year” for the past four consecutive years. The US Department of Energy uses them as a case study in a national road show targeted to the healthcare industry called “Energy-Smart Hospitals.” |