Lighting offers the region the largest potential commercial sector savings – it comprises approximately 43 percent of the total commercial electric load. As a regional entity, NEEA has the ability to leverage and coordinate the Northwest’s resources, in order to develop an infrastructure for the next generation of utility lighting programs. To accelerate the market adoption of more efficient lighting retrofits, NEEA is leveraging the resources of its market partners to develop, package, market and train electrical distributors and contractors on a lighting template tool that focuses on integrated design (lighting equipment, design and controls).

Key Barriers:

• Lighting installers lack the time and skills for energy-efficient lighting solutions that achieve higher levels of efficiency.
• There are often higher costs associated with more sophisticated lighting solutions.
• Utilities offer incentives on individual lighting measures, not on integrated designs of equipment, placement and controls.
• Building owners are not aware of the opportunities and benefits of efficient lighting installations.

Key Strategies:

• Leverage existing relationships with regional and national energy efficiency and lighting organizations to develop lighting design tools for electrical distributors and contractors.
• Disseminate templates, tools, case studies and training through utility trade ally networks, leading distributors and local utilities.
• Coordinate with local utilities to support demonstration projects and case study development.
• Develop and implement electrical contractor certification through partner organizations.
• Leverage existing building owner associations and utility customer relationships to make owners aware of the benefits of optimized efficient lighting solutions.

NEEA estimates that if 50 percent of property owners made energy efficiency renovations to one-third of their existing floor space, the regional energy savings could reach at least 120 average megawatts (aMW) by 2025. This is the equivalent to powering nearly 91,000 homes each year. To achieve these energy savings, NEEA is developing a roadmap for commercial property owners and tenants to help them engage in deep energy renovation measures throughout their buildings’ lifecycles. This roadmap will include integrated strategies, from technical assistance to financing solutions to utility incentives. As a regional entity, NEEA is able to work with the whole Northwest market, aggregating interest from owners, financial institutions and large tenants across the region to execute these integrated strategies.

Key Barriers:

• Owners are faced with high upfront cost and scarce capital and financing.
• Energy cost savings have limited impact on buildings’ overall financial position.
• Owners and lenders lack knowledge of best energy practices and benefits.
• No roadmaps exist for deep energy renovations and there is limited expertise among engineers, architects, building operators and contractors.
• No technical packages exist that offer integrated measures with predictable savings.

Key Strategies:

• Develop a roadmap for building owners that simplifies renovation process.
• Provide integrated technical packages that result in 35 percent increase in efficiency.
• Enable early market adoption through pilot demonstrations, analysis and tools.
• Disseminate solutions through training and marketing.
• Develop innovative financing mechanisms and promote these to key partners.
• Coordinate with utilities on tiered incentive programs.

NEEA targets the Northwest’s large commercial office buildings to accelerate the creation and adoption of strategic sustainability and energy efficiency practices as compelling business strategies. By working with commercial real estate leaders to track, manage and enhance buildings’ energy performance, NEEA projects the region could save 12 average megawatts by 2014. As a regional entity, NEEA influences market barriers that can be difficult or cost-prohibitive for individual utilities to tackle, including fluency and expertise in the language of commercial real estate, senior-level engagement that spans multiple utility boundaries, and strengthening relationships with regional trade associations and market actors. In addition, NEEA’s strategic planning and sustainability coaching stimulates increased demand for individual utility incentive programs.

Key Barriers:

• The real estate market lacks the acceptance or awareness that energy efficiency is a cost reduction strategy rather than a property value creation strategy.
• There are perceived split-incentives among tenants, landlords, property managers and owners.
• Financing is difficult or not readily available for large scale capital projects.
• The industry lacks tools, processes and policies that capitalize on energy efficiency for competitive advantage.

Key Strategies:

• Deliver targeted and intensive “coaching” engagements with Northwest firms and leaders, offering best practices and infrastructure for sustained focus on energy efficiency.
• Develop and help execute competitions, education, research and other knowledge- transfer programs to diffuse best practices, information, and tools for broader market emulation.

Hospitals are the second most energy-intensive industry, accounting for a whopping 4 percent of the nation’s energy use. A typical hospital uses about 2.5 times the amount of energy of a similar-sized commercial building. That's a significant demand on the Northwest power grid. NEEA, in partnership with local utilities, provides direct assistance to help hospitals adopt Strategic Energy Management (SEM) Plans. These plans focus on implementing integrated, energy-efficient design in new construction, low-cost operations and maintenance improvements in existing facilities, and purchasing policies in new construction and equipment upgrades. As a regional entity, NEEA can influence the adoption of SEM and energy use benchmarking practices across the region by partnering with hospital engineering societies, the Environmental Protection Agency Portfolio Manager Program and Northwest utilities.

Key Barriers:

• The healthcare industry lacks the acceptance or awareness that energy efficiency is a cost reduction strategy rather than a property value creation strategy.
• Financing is difficult or not readily available for hospitals’ large scale capital projects.
• The healthcare industry lacks tools, processes and policies that capitalize on energy efficiency.
• The industry has a false perception that efficiency can only be achieved through capital upgrades.

Key Strategies:

• Provide support to hospitals with existing strategic energy management plans.
• Implement a Regional Benchmarking Campaign, Regional RCM Cost Share support, education, marketing and other knowledge-transfer programs to diffuse best practices, information, and tools.
• Partner with state and national healthcare engineering societies to launch benchmarking and a 10 percent energy reduction challenge.
• Provide education and training.

NEEA is improving the efficiency of information technologies (IT) used in commercial buildings, helping small- to medium- sized businesses configure strategic energy management solutions. As a regional entity, NEEA does this by leveraging the market power of the region to influence manufacturers to expand energy-efficient features in their product lines, including collaborating with regional utilities who can offer product incentives to encourage production of the most-efficient products. On the demand side, NEEA uses its depth of experience in developing and deploying energy management practices to encourage the adoption of these business IT strategies within small- and medium-sized businesses.

Key Barriers:

• Business IT has no standard energy intensity metric.
• IT managers are not typically responsible for energy costs.
• ENERGY STAR computers are not available at lower price points.
• There is not a strategic energy management product for this industry.
• IT market experiences a rapid pace of technology changes.

Key Strategies:

• Leverage sustainability and carbon management trends to influence energy management practices in small- to-medium sized businesses.
• Collaborate with utility partners to coordinate incentives and support to encourage computer equipment manufacturers to expand energy-efficient features in their product lines.