CUSTOM RETROFIT GRANT - Puget Sound Energy
CUSTOM RETROFIT GRANT - Puget Sound Energy
CUSTOM RETROFIT GRANT - Puget Sound Energy
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<strong>CUSTOM</strong> <strong>RETROFIT</strong> <strong>GRANT</strong><br />
Hands-Down Decision: Retrofitting a Bellevue Office Building<br />
With Condensing Boilers and a PSE Grant<br />
“<br />
Once PSE told us it<br />
could pay 70% of the<br />
cost of a high-efficiency,<br />
natural gas-fired heating<br />
system, it was an easy<br />
business decision.<br />
”<br />
— Tom Jodry<br />
Senior Vice President of Facilities<br />
Legacy Partners Commercial, Inc.<br />
THE PROJECT<br />
Outdated electric resistance space heating at a nine-floor, 96,000-sq-ft<br />
Bellevue office building was costing Legacy Partners Commercial big<br />
money. Upgrading to a high-efficiency heating system with natural gasfired<br />
condensing boilers would eliminate over 516,000 kWh a year from<br />
the building’s utility bill, and a <strong>Puget</strong> <strong>Sound</strong> <strong>Energy</strong> Custom Grant would<br />
cover 70% of the retrofit. Throw in a parking garage lighting upgrade that<br />
would cut another 45,000 kWh a year, with PSE paying nearly 40% of<br />
the cost, and you have a deal.<br />
Top: Senior Property Manager Kathy Gehl<br />
of Legacy Partners is pleased with the performance<br />
of the new condensing boilers at<br />
10655 NE 4th Street in downtown Bellevue.<br />
Left: PSE recommended a hot-water hydronic<br />
heating system featuring high-efficiency<br />
condensing boilers fired by less expensive<br />
natural gas.<br />
PROJECT SAVINGS<br />
Electrical energy savings<br />
561,000 kWh per year<br />
Total savings<br />
$17,000 per year
<strong>CUSTOM</strong> <strong>GRANT</strong> - <strong>RETROFIT</strong><br />
Hands-Down Decision: Retrofitting a Bellevue Office Building<br />
With Condensing Boilers and a PSE Grant<br />
THE PROJECT<br />
Sometimes even a major retrofit can be a quick hands-down decision. It doesn’t<br />
get any easier than Legacy Partners Commercial, Inc.’s decision to exchange<br />
outdated electric resistance space heating for a high-efficiency gas hydronic<br />
system in an office building at 10655 NE 4th Street in downtown Bellevue. Built<br />
in 1972, when electricity from Northwest hydropower was memorably inexpensive,<br />
the nine-floor, 96,000-sq-ft office building was heated by a 600-kW electric<br />
resistance system.<br />
THE CHALLENGE<br />
As the price of electricity escalated, so did the building’s heating bills. Legacy<br />
Partners Commercial, a real estate investment manager, owner, and operator of<br />
a 13 million-sq-ft property portfolio, acquired the building in 2005 and began<br />
looking for more efficient ways to heat it. “We’re always thinking about saving<br />
energy—we move quickly to increase value and maximize returns,” explains Tom<br />
Jodry, senior vice president of facilities at Legacy Partners. “We looked at the<br />
building’s operating income and operating expenses, and compared it with similar<br />
properties in that immediate market.” No doubt about it, the old heating system<br />
had to go.<br />
THE SOLUTION<br />
Jodry also had no doubt that PSE’s Custom Grant Program was the way to go:<br />
PSE had approached Legacy Partners about energy-saving opportunities, and<br />
sent an engineer for a building walk-through. PSE’s engineer vividly recalled<br />
the hot deck of the 600-kW electric heating system, its 8-ft-tall walls lined with<br />
electric coils: “It was like being inside a giant toaster.” PSE recommended a hotwater<br />
hydronic heating system featuring high-efficiency condensing boilers fired<br />
by inexpensive natural gas. The proposed retrofit would save Legacy Partners<br />
more than $13,000 a year by using 19,700 therms of natural gas per year—at a<br />
cost of only $18,900—instead of 516,000 kWh of electricity a year, costing some<br />
$32,200. The clincher: PSE offered to underwrite most of the retrofit. “Once PSE<br />
told us it could pay 70% of the cost to retrofit, it was an easy business decision,”<br />
says Jodry. “That was a very appealing percentage.”<br />
PSE also recommended replacing the inefficient high-pressure sodium lighting<br />
fixtures—all 84 of them—in the building’s three-floor, 131,000-sq-ft parking garage<br />
with high-efficiency T-8 fluorescent fixtures. Garage lighting operates 24/7, and<br />
PSE calculated that replacements could easily halve the electricity used to light<br />
the 1,000-parking-space garage, saving over 45,000 kWh, or close to $4,000,<br />
a year. PSE chipped in with a grant that would cover nearly 40% of the cost of<br />
lighting replacement.<br />
THE START OF SOMETHING<br />
Knowing a good deal when he saw it, Jodry gave the go-ahead for both retrofits.<br />
Soon after, local contractor McKinstry demolished the building’s eight 75-kW<br />
resistance heaters and replaced them with two 1 million-Btu/hr condensing<br />
boilers and three hot-water coils. The new boilers operate most of the time at<br />
or near peak combustion efficiency of 91.5%. Lighting contractor Light Doctor,<br />
Inc. finished the job by installing the new lighting fixtures in the parking garage.<br />
With the help of the PSE grants, the new space heating system and the lighting<br />
upgrades will pay for themselves in about four years. All business decisions should<br />
be so easy.<br />
PROJECT PARTNER<br />
Legacy Partners’ upgrade<br />
of the office building’s<br />
heating system was made<br />
as painless as possible by<br />
contractor McKinstry’s turnkey<br />
approach. McKinstry<br />
contracted for start-tofinish<br />
services, including<br />
demolition of the old<br />
heating system, installation<br />
of the new gas-fired heating<br />
system, system startup,<br />
and post-installation<br />
commissioning.
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