Multi-Residential Lighting Conservation Engagement (Finalist)
EcoSPARK Lighting Solutions - http://ecosparklighting.ca/
Centennial College
- School of Business - http://www.centennialcollege.ca/business
- School of Communications, Media and Design - http://www.centennialcollege.ca/thecentre
- Student Residence Services - http://www.centennialrez.ca/
The Multi-Residential Conservation Engagement, takes lessons learned in the condominium market, and will validate whether rental communities can be similarly engaged in an in-suite lighting audit and retrofit project
BACKGROUND & DETAILS
In late 2010, EcoSpark Lighting Solutions conducted the largest in-suite lighting audit and retrofit project in a multi-residential building up to now. The project saved the specific condominium 353.90 Demand KW and over $110,000/year in operating costs. The condominium was also entitled to the largest Government rebate ever provided by a local distribution company for a condo-wide lighting retrofit project to this date.
The project demonstrated how you can get an “Owner” community engaged in reducing energy consumption.
We also identified a significant difference in consumption between an “Owner” that was sub-metered and responsible to pay for the electricity they consumed, as opposed to an “Owner” who was not sub-metered, and who pays for electricity based on the square footage of their unit as a percentage of the overall building square footage.
The Multi-Residential Conservation Engagement, takes lessons learned in the condominium market, and will validate whether rental communities can be similarly engaged in an in-suite lighting audit and retrofit project, and to determine if the same consumtion differences are seen whether each unit is sub-metered or not.
With the support of the Board of Directors, who have responsibility for the common areas of a condominium, the method used was to approach each unit and propose custom lighting solutions for them depending on their needs and wants.
The main goal is to bring the community together in reducing the amount of energy wasted by inefficient light bulbs and ballasts while keeping the lighting pleasant and in keeping with aesthetic requirements...
We are proposing to see if a student community of renters at Centennial College, would be engaged in having an in-suite lighting upgrade:
a) If there is no sub-metering in the unit, the cost of the lighting upgrade would be borne by the owner of the Student rental housing facility, since they gain the benefit of reduced electrical consumption and associated reduced electricity cost. This is the case with most student housing facilities.
b) If there is sub-metering in the unit, the cost of the lighting upgrade would be borne by the renter of the individual Student rental housing unit, since they gain the benefit of reduced electrical consumption and associated reduced electricity cost
The overall goal, in either case is reducing the amount of energy consumed, the associated carbon footprint and lowering the electricity bill for the person who actually pays the local distribution company for it.
The engagement model, when deployed at a 504 suite condominium in Toronto, where each unit was not sub-metered, saved 353.90 Demand KW, over $110,000/year and saw over an 80% participation rate.
When changing light bulbs in a community-wide project, the reduction of kWh is extremely substantial, especially when the community participation is over 80 percent.
When a building is sub-metered it would be a direct incentive for the unit owner to do anything to lower their electrical consumption for the purpose of saving them money.
In a non sub-metered building, the community involvement is still very important because if each unit has their lighting changed it will affect the building’s operating cost which will in turn lower the common expense fees in the future. It is then up to the Board of Directors to decide what to do with the Government incentive gained from the project.
In a Condominium with sub-meters we took on average a connected load of x and reduced it to y.
With the assumption that the lights are on for z hours a day, we saved the Condominium unit owner a significant amount of money on a yearly basis.
In a Condominium without sub-meters we took on average a connected load of x’ and reduced it to y’.
With the assumption that the lights are on z’ hours a day, we saved the Condominium Corporation a significant amount of money on a yearly basis, which will be alocated to the unit owners based on the descretion of the Board of Directors.
The emission reduction potential in the rental market is expected to be in the same range, but they will be dependent on the exercises we choose to use and measure against the baseline we establish.
EcoSPARK Lighting Solutions - http://ecosparklighting.ca/ - This company has the experience and reference customers in the Condo market and are the for-profit partner in this effort. They will be bringing their lessons learned and working with Centennial to determine the applicability and energy consumption reduction potential in a rental environment.
Centennial College – Student Residence Services - http://www.centennialrez.ca/ This organization will be asked to provide access to a number of rental units under their control, so we can establish a couple of study groups, sub-metered and non-submetered
Centennial College – School of Business - http://www.centennialcollege.ca/business This group will be asked to look at the buiness aspects and key indicators of success for this study, and determine how the model could be expanded within the Centennial community and beyond
Centennial College – School of Communications, Media and Design - http://www.centennialcollege.ca/thecentre this group will be asked to assist in the communications aspect of engaing the target community, and to capture success stories from the earlier experience inthe condo market. Various media will be used to easily communicate the value proposition.
With the amount of electrical reduction and the money saved from it, communities will begin to see that this idea is crucial in all multi-residential buildings.
It will also ensure them that they are not using out of date lighting technologies that is costing them top dollar to run especially with the rising electricity costs.
This is a very easy way of saving money and reducing their carbon footprint at the same time.
This project will definitely have a domino effect and as soon as a few communities get on board, every community will want to be a part of it.
Comments
Student rental
Great idea, I hope it keeps gaining recognition. Very self-sustainable and measurable. Keyed in on your target market well and this idea is clean and simple.
Can this be turned into a city/nation wide effort?
Light bulbs
The concept sounds great and is doable in any community and township.
How are you planning on disposing the old light bulbs?
Interesting idea
ABle to document the financial success of the program as well as the energy saving component
Non profit housing participation in this project would reflect savings for government
Very well done , exicted to
Very well done , exicted to see results
this is going to be big!
this will be a special opportunity for all!
Great Proposal
It was a great proposal becuase it was very measurable and has a proven track record.
domino effect
I really like the future aspects of this venture and believe that this could pave the way for many buildings to jump on board. Especially since Government incentives are offered, this project should fly high.
Workable
I am pro new lighting technologies and believe that it can save a substaintial amount of energy. I see the street lighting slowly being changed over to LEDs so I know there is definitely a market for this.
What is the method of this project?
I think this is a very
I think this is a very practical idea that can be applied to almost any type of building.
The ClimateSpark Social Venture Challenge is a project of:
Our sponsors:
Growing Buzz
I want to thank all of the people who commented in phase 1. The feedback was awesome and we hope to hear more on what you think of this project.
Multi-residential buildings are major electricity consumers and are the next step in targeting the growing concern for inefficent light bulbs. A majority of people that occupy rental buildings do not have an incentive to upgrade their lighting because they are not sub-metered and are not directly paying for the amount of energy they are consuming. This project gives those communities an opportunity to participate in a program that allows them to do so.
Please comment and give us more feedback and any questions will be answered.