BOMA San Francisco Members:
On behalf of BOMA California, ConSol, and Lime Energy, thank you to those who contributed to BOMA California’s SEP Commercial Retrofit Program Proposal.
The awardees of stimulus funds from the federal government via the California Energy Commission (CEC) program for energy efficiency in commercial buildings have been announced – there were 77 applicants, and we are proud to say our proposal ranked in the top 10. Unfortunately, there were only enough funds to give awards to the top three grants.
The three winners include projects located in downtown Oakland, supermarkets (refrigeration), and Northern California municipal buildings. We congratulate the successful projects and acknowledge the tough competition! Read more about the winners by clicking here for the project press release: 'Energy Commission Awards 29.6M in Stimulus Funds'
Although the CEC funding was not awarded to the BOMA California proposal, our technical partners, ConSol and Lime Energy, believe that good opportunities to save building costs can be found outside of the bid program. Take a moment to read the information below for ideas that we hope will lead you increased energy efficiency and a better bottom line.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CONNECTIONS MADE – OPPORTUNITIES EXIST!
Lime Energy has an effective way to look at the total energy use of a property on a cost per square foot basis and compare the number with survey data from existing buildings in the same region. This tells how the energy use of the building rates in relation to average and is valuable because it separates out the buildings that are already doing well; confirms that they are OK for now, and nobody has to waste a lot of time with an already efficient building. On the other hand, the opposite is just as true – this step identifies the buildings that are in need of help, and those are the ones that owners and managers ought to be concentrating on. BOMA has energy related programs such as BEEP, and one of the foundations of BEEP is benchmarking. Lime Energy will review your BEEP benchmark, or help you prepare one if you haven’t done so.
This benchmarking step will identify the buildings that need to work on energy efficiency, and Lime Energy will use its experience and California-based crews to help you find and execute solutions. Please contact Lauren Usher at Lime Energy (909 394-0230 x113) for more information about what they can offer to the group that pledged support for the CEC bid.
ConSol wants to make sure you know that building to the stringent California energy code (T-24) can qualify improvements for tax deductions. If you have recently improved the lighting efficiency of your building you are probably eligible for the 197D energy efficient buildings deduction. ConSol will determine your eligibility for this tax deduction (up to $0.60 per square foot). If you are interested please contact Mark Kindelberger at ConSol (209 473-5060).
Again, the leadership at BOMA California and our partners at ConSol and Lime Energy want to express our gratitude for you moving forward projects for this grant. We would also like to acknowledge and thank BOMA International for allowing us to build into our program many of its existing resources. We were close on this one, learned some lessons, and hopefully will be better positioned for the next opportunity!
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