Rising Rates Energize Electricity Conservation in LI

By Claude Solnik

Spellman High Voltage, which produces power supply devices in Hauppauge, watched its electricity bills rise for years. That was just a cost of business. As surely as property taxes went up on Long Island, electric bills headed skyward. Not anymore. This Hauppauge-based firm began fighting back a few years ago by implementing a slew of energy efficiency measures.

Spellman last year sheared $28,000 off electric costs for its 66,000-square-foot Bohemia building and $24,000 off its nearly 100,000-square-foot headquarters.

“Our bill’s down,” said Brian McEnroy, Spellman’s facilities manager. “As prices have been going up, our consumption has been going down.”

While it may be a silver lining at best, rising costs along with Long Island Power Authority rebates are prompting companies to become more efficient, replacing lights, air conditioning and chiller units.

Spellman installed computerized air conditioning and heating, tailoring temperatures to building use.

“We’re not overly cooling certain areas and undercooling others,” said Spellman President Loren Skeist. “There were a number of situations where we were exhausting air in a way that wasn’t necessary. You’re wasting cool air.”

Spellman also switched to 25-watt compact fluorescent bulbs which use less energy than 32-watt bulbs. “As silly as that may sound, it saves a phenomenal amount of wattage,” McEnroy said. “It’s a no- brainer.”

Bethpage Federal Credit Union’s electric costs rose slightly over the past few years even as rates jumped because their own improvements offset rate hikes.

“We’ve replaced lights and switches,” said Anthony Edelman, BFCU’s assistant vice president of support services. “We replaced our chill water units so they run more efficiently. We put them on controls. They were running full time. Now they run when we tell them to run.”

Although many companies offer free energy audits done through LIPA, an audit, for free or for a fee, is only the beginning, said Tony Coppola, chief executive of MC Alliance Energy Group in Bohemia, which helped BFCU and Spellman cut electric costs.

“It’s a financial opportunity,” Coppola said. “Where else can you go and make an investment and get a 40, 50, 100 percent return on investment and be able to document it year after year?”

Major energy efficiency measures typically take just a few years to pay back whatever companies spend.

“They think it costs money to implement,” Coppola said. “In reality, we say it costs you money every day you don’t implement.”

Nonprofits, such as the Association for the Help of Retarded Children in Bohemia, are turning the switch on conservation. Coppola said his firm helped AHRC save $263,000 in a little more than a decade with energy efficiency.

AHRC upgraded lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and set up a maintenance program.

Companies still have to lay out money, prompting firms to change slowly, although LIPA rebates help defray costs. “We’ve had to do this in stages over time,” Skeist said. “The capital expense is something we had to phase in.”

Encouraged by results, companies are eyeing alternative energy as a possible next step toward greater efficiency and lower bills. “We’re looking at solar energy to run some of our power requirements,” Edelman said. “We’re exploring it.”

Originally published by Claude Solnik.

(c) 2008 Long Island Business News. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.