Best practices in energy efficiency programs in the Northeast
Long Island Power Authority's Clean Energy Initiative and the King Kullen Grocery Company
Since 1998, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has been the primary electric service provider for Long Island. LIPA is the third largest public power utility in the nation, delivering electricity to more than 1.1 million customers. Operating as a non profit entity, LIPA’s mission is to deliver safe, reliable and economical electric service to its customers.
As part of its commitment to cost-containment, efficiency and service reliability, LIPA operates an extensive Clean Energy Initiative (CEI), valued at $355 million, that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy within LIPA’s service territory. The program has produced significant savings by helping to reduce electricity use on Long Island by nearly 1 million megawatt-hours, enough to power 105,000 average Long Island homes.
LIPA’s CEI includes many efficiency programs for both residential and commercial customers. Among the commercial offerings are the Commercial Construction Program and the Retrofit Energy and Capacity Program.
Commercial Construction: LIPA’s Commercial Construction Program (CCP) helps Long Island businesses increase efficiency and lower operating costs by incorporating cost effective, energy efficient and environmentally responsible technologies when upgrading equipment, renovating, expanding or building a new facility. The CCP includes three paths: prescriptive, custom and whole building design.
The prescriptive approach offers incentives for choosing equipment from a pre-qualified list of energy efficiency measures including lighting, cooling and motors. Projects falling under the custom approach receive technical assistance and incentives for more complex efficiency measures not covered under the prescriptive approach, including measures that may be unique to a particular building.
The most comprehensive commercial approach focuses on whole building design. Customers involved in this approach work with LIPA supported experts to develop an energy efficiency plan tailored for a specific building. This allows building owners and their design teams to pursue energy efficiency options that fully integrate building envelope and operating systems to produce a building as energy efficient as current technology and design allows. New construction projects larger than 50,000 square feet, with more than 150 tons of cooling and 75kW of lighting load are eligible.
Retrofit Energy and Capacity: LIPA’s Retrofit Energy and Capacity Program (RECAP) provides energy solutions to Long Island businesses by lowering energy demand and enhancing the use of Long Island’s energy resources, particularly during peak summer months when energy consumption is at its highest levels. RECAP focuses on retrofit and replacement opportunities in lighting, HVAC, motors, refrigeration and energy management systems for LIPA’s commercial customers, multi-family buildings and publicly owned facilities. Participation in RECAP is facilitated by LIPA approved energy service companies.
Eligibility
Commercial, industrial and governmental projects, including supermarkets, office buildings, schools, hotels and manufacturing facilities are all eligible to participate in LIPA’s CCP and RECAP programs.
King Kullen is one of LIPA’s most proactive customers when it comes to energy efficiency. King Kullen is a leader in the Long Island supermarket business and is recognized by the Smithsonian Institute as America’s first supermarket. Today, three generations after the start of the company, King Kullen remains a family owned and operated business with 48 stores and 5,000 employees.
When King Kullen’s energy costs began increasing more than any of its other expenses, the company sought ways to improve energy efficiency, keep costs down and remain competitive in its industry. The company’s participation in LIPA’s Clean Energy Initiative demonstrates its strong commitment to continued improvement in energy performance.
King Kullen has participated in LIPA’s CCP since the program’s inception. Two of their most recent projects – a complete renovation in Massapequa and a newly constructed store in Oceanside- utilized LIPA’s whole building design approach. Working with LIPA from concept to completion, King Kullen is able to incorporate cost-effective, energy-efficiency measures into their design and construction plans to develop energy efficient stores.
King Kullen has also been a pioneering participant in LIPA’s RECAP program. Their successful energy reductions as part of this program have encouraged other supermarkets on Long Island to take part.
Incentives
Both LIPA’s Commercial Construction Program and Retrofit Energy and Capacity Program provide incentives to customers. The CCP’s prescriptive approach provides up to $100,000 per project or up to $300,000 per customer to offset the costs of efficiency upgrades. The custom and whole building approaches provide customers with up to $10,000 in technical assistance and annual financial incentives of $300,000 per project, up to a maximum of $900,000 per year. To offset the charge passed on to the customer, RECAP incentives are provided by LIPA to the energy service company that handles the project.
King Kullen has received approximately $1.1 million in rebates from LIPA for approved efficiency measures completed in its stores.
Energy Efficiency Improvements
King Kullen’s participation in LIPA’s Clean Energy Initiative includes a comprehensive lighting upgrade in 45 stores. These stores have installing new lighting that utilizes high-efficiency fluorescent technology, coupled with improved lighting controls. The energy savings over the lifetime of this equipment will be enough energy to power about 1,200 average sized Long Island homes.
Other energy efficiency measures put in place by King Kullen through participation in LIPA programs include:
- Custom dairy cases with fiber optic lighting to reduce lighting and cooling costs;
- Energy management systems to control lighting, fans and frost levels in refrigeration cases, ensuring appropriate temperature and improving efficiency;
- Desiccant systems to control humidity and increase efficiency in refrigeration cases;
- High efficiency HVAC systems; and
- High efficiency motors.
Savings and Benefits
As a result of King Kullen’s participation in LIPA’s clean energy programs, the company saves a total of 15,000,000 kWh annually. This represents a 20-25 percent reduction in annual energy consumption and is the equivalent of $2.4 million in annual cost savings.
In addition to energy savings and lowered maintenance costs, the high-efficiency lighting upgrades at King Kullen stores provide optimum color rendering, high uniformity and low glare, all of which improve the stores’ appearance and enhance the customer shopping experience.
Business Leadership
King Kullen was recognized by NEEP as a Northeast Business Leader for Energy Efficiency as part of the 2007 Northeast Energy Efficiency Summit. For more information about the program and to view a video clip summarizing King Kullen's efficiency efforts, please click here.
Interested in submitting a case study for NEEP Notes? Please contact Catherine Stanley for more information.
