Southwestern Energy – Chetana Kallakuri – 2013

Goals

Chetana Kallakuri worked towards benchmarking the building energy consumption and analyzing the site Energy Use Intensity (EUI) at the Conway, Arkansas facility of Southwestern Energy Company. The facility was LEED for New Construction Gold certified in 2011.

Solutions

There was little scope for improving energy efficiency as the building was already performing very well. Kallakuri identified that low electricity rates and absence of incentives in the state extended the payback period and proved to be significant barriers for investments in efficiency. Kallakuri also explored the potential for the Conway facility to apply for LEED for Existing Buildings certification, but with the soon to be released LEED v4, discussions are ongoing regarding the appropriate LEED version and time of application. Lastly, Kallakuri submitted a proposal for an employee run green team including the kick-off projects for the team.

Potential Impact

Kallakuri’s ideas were well-received by the management. Kallakuri found that the installation of a new sub-meter for the data center enabled the company to correctly benchmark and greatly improve the building’s ENERGY STAR Score. The new score could be helpful in applying for ENERGY STAR Certification next year.