Contact: Nick Assendelft

517-284-8300 (office)
517-388-3135 (cell)
Consumer Contact: 800-292-9555
www.michigan.gov/energy

Nov. 1, 2017

Six public building projects honored for $2.1 million in annual energy savings
through use of performance contracts

2017 Leaders in Energy Efficiency Awards co-hosted by Michigan Energy Office

LANSING, Mich. Six Michigan public building projects were recognized today for
leadership in reducing building energy waste through performance contracts.

Winners of the 2017 Leaders in Energy Efficiency Awards, sponsored by the Energy
Services Coalition Michigan Chapter (ESC MI Chapter), invested more than $39.5
million in building system upgrades and are saving nearly $2.1 million per year in
energy costs over the lifespan of the improvements.

Todays award winners have demonstrated leadership and stewardship in their

commitment to reducing wasted energy, shrinking their carbon footprint, and improving
the work and learning environment for building occupants. said Dan Mack, ESC MI
Chapter president. We expect interest in energy savings performance contracting to
continue growing in Michigan due, in part, to the positive outcomes of projects like these
and the need to maintain tight budgets.

The 2017 Leaders in Energy Efficiency Awards winners and their projects follow. Click
on the winners names to get more details.:

Branch County: In a $1.3 million project, the county upgraded to LED lighting,
replace boilers and chiller in the courthouse, installed a new energy management
system, adopted water conservation measures, and installed weatherproofing.
The changes are expected to save the county $87,222 annually.
 City of Grand Rapids: This $6.3 million project at the Lake Michigan Filtration
Plant included the replacement of boilers and piping, exterior and interior lighting
and the installation of a geothermal HVAC system. The changes are expected to
result in an annual savings of $108,657.
Monroe County Community College: The college installed a geothermal system
to replace its HVAC system. The $16.1 million project is expected to result in an
annual savings of $275,000. The geothermal system is expected to last 50 years,
twice the life of a conventional system.
Oakland University: The university installed a five-megawatt cogeneration natural
gas-driven turbine and a waste heat recovery boiler. The $12.7 million project is
expected to result in an annual savings of $1,476,211.
Parchment School District: This school developed an energy project that would
pay for itself with savings from the existing budget and would generate additional
savings that could be used to repair and replace roofs in the school district. The
$2 million project involved lighting retrofits, energy efficient motors, and water
conservation retrofits. The project is expected to result in an annual savings of
$113,625.
St. Ignace Area Schools: This school district developed a comprehensive $1.1
million program that addresses its capital needs, rising energy costs and deferred
maintenance.

Co-hosted by the Michigan Energy Office and chapter members, the event included a
presentation by State Representative Beth Griffin (MI-District 66) on new legislation for
schools to finance energy projects from operational budgets, and was followed by a
panel discussion with the award winners on their project experiences.

Commissioner Norm Saari, of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC),

assisted in the presentation of the award plaques. The MPSC participated in the first
energy performance contracting project nationally using Property Assessed Clean
Energy (PACE) financing in a state government-leased building in 2015.

Energy saving performance contracting enables building owners to use future energy
savings to pay the upfront costs of energy-saving projects, eliminating the need to tap
into capital budgets. Commissioner Saari said.

The award ceremony, in its seventh year, attracted a record 60 people at the Michigan
Agency for Energys (MAE) offices in Lansing.

Todays awards ceremony follows the recent Governors Energy Excellence

Awards that highlighted the extraordinary efforts of eight individuals and organizations
to reduce energy waste in Michigan.

The ESC is a national nonprofit organization composed of a network of experts from a

wide range of organizations working together at the state and local level to increase
energy efficiency and building upgrades through energy savings performance
contracting (ESPC).
The ESC MI Chapter provides an outreach program that strives to educate and inform
public entities on ESPC within the state.

The Michigan Energy Office promotes energy waste reduction and renewable energy
resource development to the states businesses and public institutions. It serves as a
state partner organization to the ESC MI Chapter. The Michigan Energy Office is
division of MAE.

For more information about MAE, please visit www.michigan.gov/energy or sign up for
its listservs to keep up on MAE matters.

###