NYPA Launches Energy Efficiency Innovation Collaborative

NYPA Energy Efficiency Innovation Collaborative

This new NYPA Energy Efficiency Innovation Collaborative effort was created to accelerate promising energy-saving technologies in New York public buildings.

By bringing together NYPA, NYSERDA, universities, research groups and private-sector partners, the program aimed to cut energy use while also supporting clean-tech companies and jobs.

NYPA Connected Energy Efficiency Innovation With Public Buildings

The New York Power Authority (NYPA), is looking to improve energy efficiency in New York State buildings and spur economic growth in emerging technologies, bringing new and expanding businesses to the state.

“The goal of this collaborative is to spur the growth of the most promising energy-saving innovations, with a focus on those that match the energy needs of public buildings,” said Gil C. Quiniones, president and chief executive officer, NYPA. “Encouraging highly promising and expanding energy efficiency companies will also offer increased economic development benefits for New York State. In short, it means jobs.”

“Governor Cuomo has directed the Power Authority and other state entities to ensure that New York is the leader in developing and deploying the latest energy-efficiency products,” said Joanne M. Mahoney, vice chair and Onondaga County Executive, NYPA. “EE-INC will strive to accomplish these goals by uniting organizations that are well-versed in designing programs to expand the use of new energy efficiency technologies.

NYPA, which has plans to finance more than $800 million in energy efficiency projects over the next several years in support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Build Smart NY initiative, is looking to incorporate emerging energy-saving technologies into the projects that it is undertaking at schools, colleges and universities, offices, health-care facilities and other public buildings throughout the state.

The NYPA Energy Efficiency Collaborative Looked for Emerging Technologies

EE-INC wanted to find the next generation of energy-saving technology.

Therefore, the collaborative launched a Request for Information, or RFI. The program targeted commercial technologies that had reached the market but had not yet gained widespread adoption.

The goal was simple. Find promising technologies. Test them in real buildings. Then determine whether New York could deploy them on a much larger scale.

Moreover, the RFI remained open-ended. However, EE-INC established periodic cutoff dates. That approach gave reviewers time to evaluate new submissions as they arrived.

New York Brought Major Energy Organizations Together

EE-INC also brought several major energy and research organizations into the effort.

Partners included the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE), the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

In addition, NYPA planned to work with Empire State Development. That partnership connected EE-INC with Start-Up NY.

As a result, the program linked energy efficiency with economic development.

New York could identify promising technology companies. Then state agencies could help demonstrate their products in government facilities. Successful projects could also give companies valuable real-world performance data.

Consequently, state buildings could become testing grounds for new clean-energy technology.

NYSERDA Connected Efficiency With Economic Development

NYSERDA President and CEO John B. Rhodes said the initiative demonstrated how New York’s clean-energy industry could support economic development.

At the same time, the program could help state-owned buildings cut energy consumption. It could also demonstrate energy-saving technologies under real operating conditions.

Therefore, EE-INC went beyond simply replacing old equipment.

The program created an opportunity to show building owners what emerging technologies could accomplish before those products reached widespread adoption.

SyracuseCoE Saw an Opportunity for Jobs and Energy Savings

SyracuseCoE Executive Director Ed Bogucz also connected the program with economic growth.

He said EE-INC brought together two major state priorities: regional economic development and Build Smart NY.

Furthermore, SyracuseCoE could tap its network of businesses, researchers, universities, and technology organizations.

That network gave the initiative another advantage. Instead of looking for innovation in one agency or one region, New York could draw ideas from organizations across the state.

More participants could mean more technologies to evaluate.

Meanwhile, successful demonstrations could help New York companies establish credibility in a competitive clean-energy marketplace.

Government Buildings Became Technology Laboratories

IBTS also supported the effort.

Chief Operating Officer Shyam Choudhary said the organization wanted to help NYPA advance emerging technologies in government facilities.

That approach made sense.

Government owns and operates a huge portfolio of buildings. Those facilities consume electricity, heating fuel, and other resources every day.

Therefore, even modest efficiency improvements could create significant savings when agencies deployed them across many properties.

More importantly, those buildings could provide a proving ground.

A technology manufacturer could make impressive claims in a laboratory. However, a school, office building, hospital, or government facility creates very different operating conditions.

Real buildings test whether technology actually delivers.

EPRI Focused on Faster Deployment

EPRI Senior Vice President for Research and Development Arshad Mansoor highlighted another benefit: speed.

Emerging technologies often face a difficult gap between development and widespread commercialization.

A company may have a working product. However, building owners may hesitate to become early adopters.

EE-INC aimed to reduce that barrier.

By demonstrating technologies inside state facilities, NYPA and its partners could collect operating data. In turn, building managers could evaluate actual energy savings and performance.

Successful projects could then move beyond New York.

Consequently, the initiative had the potential to accelerate energy-efficiency deployment in other states as well.

Build Smart NY Set an Ambitious Efficiency Target

EE-INC supported the broader Build Smart NY initiative.

Governor Andrew Cuomo launched Build Smart NY following Executive Order 88. The order directed state agencies and authorities to improve energy efficiency in state buildings, with a goal of reducing average source energy-use intensity by 20 percent by 2020.

That target created a powerful incentive for innovation.

New York operated a large portfolio of public buildings. Therefore, reducing energy consumption across those facilities could lower operating expenses.

At the same time, efficiency upgrades could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Furthermore, those investments could support contractors, engineers, technology developers, manufacturers, and other clean-energy businesses.

Energy Efficiency Became an Economic Strategy

That broader impact made EE-INC especially interesting.

Energy efficiency was not only an environmental program. Instead, New York treated efficiency as an economic-development opportunity.

The state could lower energy costs. Meanwhile, technology companies could demonstrate new products. Researchers could collect performance data. Building managers could gain experience with advanced systems.

Most importantly, successful technologies could move from demonstration projects into mainstream use.

That creates a powerful cycle.

Innovation leads to testing. Testing creates data. Data reduces uncertainty. Finally, lower uncertainty can encourage wider investment.

For New York, that meant government buildings could do more than consume less energy.

They could help build the market for the next generation of energy-efficient technology.

The SyracuseCoE team includes Syracuse University, Taitem Engineering, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, CDH Energy, City University of New York, the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Brookhaven National Lab. Additional partners include Infosys International, CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, MEG Control Products, CHC Construction, Binghamton University and Stony Brook University.

The IBTS team includes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Courtney-Strong Inc., Quality Environmental Solutions & Technologies and Building Insight.