Urban Innovations – Michael Perry – 2014

Goals

Michael Perry participated in Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program with Urban Innovations, a property-investment firm in downtown Chicago. The primary thrust of the engagement was the development of a capital budgeting tool that would refine UI’s budgeting process and drive organizational sustainability efforts.

Solutions

Perry developed a robust, user-friendly excel tool that identifies applicable rebate information and calculates cost-savings in order to accurately value upgrades to HVAC systems, boilers, roofing, VSDs, building automation systems and lighting equipment. In analyzing the budgeted projects for the coming year, the tool has already driven equipment decisions and identified significant financial and environmental benefits. Perry futher assisted in the identification of lighting equipment upgrades and an assessment of the organization’s capacity to participate in demand-response markets.

Potential Impact

Perry’s portfolio-wide audit of lighting systems identified opportunities to reduce annual electricity consumption by 119,000 kWh. Additionally, Perry helped UI assess its potential to participate in demand-response programs and began contract negotiations with EnerNOC worth an estimated net value of over $19,000.

Perry’s excel tool identified potential reductions of over 990,000 kWh in annual electricity usage, over $70,000 in annual cost-savings, over $72,000 in immediate rebates and over 846 metric tons in greenhouse gas reductions.