Making State Facilities Energy Smart

Frank Gorke

Director, Energy Efficiency Division, Department of Energy Resources

View Frank's Complete Bio

DOER recently kicked off site surveys at 33 state-owned complexes across the Commonwealth. These site surveys are the initial step in one of DOER’s innovative stimulus-funded initiatives- the Enterprise Energy Management System (EEMS) at state facilities.

Some of my colleagues attended two successful kickoff events at Berkshire Community College and Fitchburg State College, where EnerNOC, the primary contractor for this project, walked through a sample site survey for local press and campus staff who are excited and eager to move forward with the project…and rightfully so! Facilities managers at these sites, many whose access to data up until this point has been contained in a monthly utility bill for the campus as a whole, will soon be able to open up their web browser, log into the EEMS site, and view energy consumption at each of their buildings as it is being consumed. When the system is up and running, facility managers will be alerted when energy use at a specific building is spiking, and be able to go out to the building to identify and fix the problem before the college incurs the costs associated with the energy waste.

That’ll be a big help, considering that a huge chunk of Fitchburg State’s budget is spent on energy, says Mary Beth McKenzie, Executive Director of Administrative Services at FSC. DOER is expecting savings of 5 to 15 percent in reduced use of electricity, natural gas, and oil across EEMS sites, not to mention the emissions associated with it.

DOER and EnerNOC see this project as a real step forward toward better management and operation of state buildings. Installation of meters will be underway at the end of the summer and the system should be up and running in March of next year. Check back for updates and stories from some of the system users!

For more information about EEMS, click here or contact Maggie McCarey at Maggie.McCarey@state.ma.us.

Above: Rich Law, EnerNOC Project Manager, discussing the metering plan at Berkshire Community College's Susan B. Anthony College Center

Comments

[Greg Law]

Where is the credit or caption for EnerNOC's employee pictured above?

[lisa capone]

Good point. Energy Smarts apologizes for inadvertently leaving off the photo caption, which we have now posted. Thanks for letting us know.

[Angie]

The ability to log in and check energy usage is fantastic - maybe we could have this mandatory in all new home and office buildings. I wonder how much enargy is used without us being aware of it. Great initiative
http://thematrixenergeticsexperience.org/
Angie