🔒Despite green efforts, CT’s commercial properties are emitting more pollution; Here are ways to fix that

When a comprehensive inventory of Connecticut’s greenhouse gas emissions was released in early September, showing transportation-related exhaust to be a leading and persistent contributor, it sparked renewed discussion about the pace of the state’s adoption of electric vehicles and the pressing need to expand EV charging infrastructure.

Less noticed, however, was a slight but discouraging upswing in pollution released by commercial buildings.

According to data from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, commercial buildings have been throwing off more energy-trapping gases like carbon dioxide since around 2012, following a period of modest declines beginning around 2003.

And though buildings as a source of greenhouse gas emissions trail the output of the transportation and electricity sectors, they will have to figure into any serious discussion of a more environmentally-friendly Connecticut, especially as extreme weather in the summer and winter months — the norm in recent years — taxes the state’s aging heating and cooling systems.

In some ways, the numbers belie the work already being done to spur the retrofitting of older buildings with more efficient lighting and equipment, and encourage the construction of more sustainable buildings in the future.

Companies that want to go green — or at least greener — can take advantage of incentives from the state’s utility companies, arrange financing with the help of the Connecticut Green Bank and contract with a growing number of energy conservation firms to navigate the process.

“It’s kind of surprising when people don’t want this,” said Jack Cunningham, director of energy solutions sales at West Hartford-based Environmental Systems Corp. “You’re getting free stuff. And once they finally get into it, they’re always happy that they did.”

Bottom-line savings

ESC provides energy evaluations for its client’s buildings, identifying what improvements could be made to reduce energy consumption. Oftentimes, that means replacing or upgrading equipment such as steam traps, dust collectors, HVAC systems and pump frequency drives, swapping in LED lights for older halogen bulbs and installing rooftop solar panels.

The company then works with the client’s utility company to determine what energy reduction incentives may be available and comes up with an either cost neutral or cash positive plan to perform the upgrades.

According to Cunningham, ESC’s customers include manufacturers, schools, hospitals and universities, among others.

Each company that decides to pursue an energy reduction project, with ESC or generally, has their own considerations, he noted, though they all want to come out ahead financially.

“Smaller and mid-sized businesses are doing it for the financial end,” he said. “Whereas with larger companies, they want to go green as part of the company culture, or at least move in that direction.”

Middletown’s Wesleyan University is an ESC client.

In 2018, ESC spearheaded an energy overhaul of the school’s athletic facility that is now saving Wesleyan about $150,000 per year in electric costs, according to Andrew Plotkin, the university’s engineering project manager.

The project cost $1.6 million, and utility incentives ultimately absorbed $600,000 of that amount, leaving the university to pay $1 million, which will gradually be made up in savings.

Wesleyan has continued to work with ESC since, replacing halogen lights with LEDs and making upgrades to boilers, rooftop equipment and other systems.

Smaller clients, different needs

While larger institutions such as colleges and hospitals may be able to shoulder costs associated with energy upgrades, or secure financing for those projects, not all building owners have immediate access to the necessary capital.

The Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy, or C-PACE, program, administered by the Connecticut Green Bank, is designed to fill in that gap.

C-PACE uses borrowed capital to pay for energy efficiency or renewable energy projects. The money is repaid over time via a voluntary tax assessment, which allows for long-term financing and the transfer of payments to future owners if the property changes hands.

Mackey Dykes, vice president of financing programs at the Green Bank, said C-PACE enables more modest borrowers to complete the same energy overhauls as larger organizations, including the replacement of inefficient boilers and installation of LED lights and solar panels.

Participants include landlords, industrial companies, nonprofit organizations and retailers.

“For larger institutions, access to capital is easier,” Dykes said. “What C-PACE does is unlock financing for businesses that wouldn’t have had that access, or wouldn’t have completed an energy project because it wouldn’t have made financial sense.”

The program is attractive, he added, because projected savings must, as a condition of C-PACE rules, exceed the cost of a project. For that reason, the Green Bank is able to draw in private lenders, and C-PACE funding comes mostly from private investment.

About three years ago, the program expanded to include financing for new construction that includes energy-saving features. That initiative has taken time to catch on, Dykes said, but the Green Bank is now in discussions with numerous developers interested in joining the program.

“There’s growing interest,” he said. “In the real estate community, introducing new financing tools takes a while. But as awareness grows, we’re seeing a lot more interest in the programs.”

One of the latest beneficiaries of the Green Bank’s financing assistance is Mystic Aquarium, which just recently announced a $2.5 million investment in energy efficiency improvements.

The aquarium has already replaced energy-monitoring equipment, lights, pumps and controls in its buildings and habitats, and will now install solar panels on its roofs and upgrade HVAC systems throughout its campus.

The overhaul is expected to reduce total energy use at Mystic Aquarium by 650,000 kilowatt-hours annually, saving the institution over $85,000 in energy costs each year, or approximately $1.3 million over the lifetime of the new equipment.

Savings are expected to rise to $115,000 annually once the solar power system comes online, according to Senior Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects Keith Sorensen, who said the investment is the largest energy-centered undertaking for the aquarium to date.

The project was made possible through incentives from Eversource Energy and Green Bank financing.

“This is definitely showing the way forward in terms of how a large, public venue can complete these projects and reduce its carbon footprint,” Sorenson said of the three-way collaboration.

Looking forward, Sorensen said the aquarium wants to add more solar power resources and explore technologies such as heat pumps, renewable natural gas, fuel cells, battery storage and geothermal power.

“We’re going to continue these efforts into 2022 and beyond,” he said. “We’re going to take a look at every technology and see if it makes sense for us.”