Whether it’s a Wausau engineering firm replacing lights at a northern Wisconsin Airport with energy saving LED lights, or an Appleton firm constructing a green building at a Madison monastery, Wisconsin builders and businesses alike are jumping on the energy efficiency bandwagon in growing numbers.

Helping make it possible is the statewide Focus on Energy program, which has helped businesses around the state save more than $172 million in annual energy costs since 2001.

Focus on Energy is the statewide energy efficiency and renewable energy program that helps customers implement projects that otherwise would not be completed. At no cost, Focus provides technical expertise, training and education, and energy assessments.

“We also provide financial assistance to businesses to help offset costs of implementing energy management projects,” says Amanda Wollin, a Focus on Energy spokeswoman. “Our energy advisors can help businesses determine which incentives they might qualify for and guide them through the application process.”

Rewards are available to eligible business customers that are constructing a new building, an addition to an existing building, or undertaking a major renovation.

Over the lifetime of a building, savings in operating costs far outweigh most initial investments in energy efficiency. Compared to a baseline building that has annual energy costs of $1.00 to $1.50 per square foot, an energy-efficient new building could save $0.10 to $0.45 per square foot per year depending on the efficiency measures incorporated into the project.

Lights out

In 2007, Mark Porlier was providing engineering services to the Lakeland Airport in northern Wisconsin when he noticed that high wattage floodlights used in highly concentrated areas resulted in inefficient lighting. Not only were the halide lights consuming excess energy, but they threw off glare that could interfere with pilots’ vision at the airport just north of Minocqua-Woodruff.

The $132,000 project performed by Clark Dietz Inc. consisted of replacing 16 light fixture poles that illuminate the road, the parking lot, the airport apron and the fueling area. There are five LED lights that stay on from dusk till dawn, while the rest are controlled by motion sensors. Previously, the original lighting required 7,470 watts. Now, when all 16 LED lights are on, it comes to 2,752 watts. When just the lights on the main road into the airport are on, there is 792 watts on five poles.

“There is 40 to 60 percent savings —but with motion sensors, you get that much more savings,” Porlier says. “There is no better energy savings than ‘off.’ And you can really start to get the payback a lot faster. That way, we get an 89 percent reduction in our energy costs.”

Focus on Energy provided the airport with a savings calculation and a $1,084 incentive to help buy down the project cost. 
Porlier says there is a great deal of interest around the United States in replacing traditional street lights with LED lighting.

Anchorage, Alaska is planning to replace 2,500 street lights, while Los Angeles is preparing to replace 140,000 street lights. On a smaller scale, Racine and Kenosha each have slated roadway LED lighting replacement projects, Porlier says.

“Now that we have this technology available, there is a lot of opportunity,” he says. “You can’t do the instant on/off with traditional high-pressure sodium lights, as it takes 10 to15 minutes to come back up. With an LED light, it’s instantaneous on/off. And LED light is white light, not unlike what you see outside at newer gas stations. It’s a superior light.”

Also, LED lights are a more environmentally friendly technology in that they don’t contain mercury, and their lamp life is rated at approximately 20 years versus the traditional four to five years of an HID lamp.

Carrying out the mission

Three years ago, the Benedictine Women of Madison partnered with Hoffman LLC, an Appleton-based firm that provided planning, architecture, and construction management services in the creation of the 34,000 square-foot Holy Wisdom Monastery on the north shore of Lake Mendota.

Seeking to replace Benedictine House, an energy inefficient 60,000 square foot conference center, the Sisters set high expectations for Holy Wisdom Monastery. The new monastery is a sustainable design respectful of its natural environment, and built within a fiscally responsible budget.

“The goal was to create a smaller, energy-efficient building that would be in harmony with our surrounding acres of restored prairie,” says Sister Mary David Walgenbach, OSB, prioress of Benedictine Women of Madison at Holy Wisdom Monastery.

“Hoffman worked with us to design a simple, hospitable building to reflect our monastic values, and complement the beauty of the land,” Walgenbach says. “With every design decision, we asked, ‘Does it express our mission, is it the greenest option, and is it cost effective?’”

The two-story Holy Wisdom Monastery was designed and constructed with numerous sustainable features, including:

• Photovoltaic panels on the roof provide 13 percent of total energy cost. The system is expandable and the goal is to eventually provide 100 percent of the monastery’s energy needs on a net basis from on-site, renewable sources — and a zero carbon footprint.

• Specially designed, high-performance windows keep heat losses/gains to a minimum and provide abundant daylight and aesthetic prairie views.

• An efficient geothermal heating and cooling system uses 39 closed-loop wells, each 300 feet deep.

• A white, membrane roof, reflective pavers and vegetated roofs help keep the surroundings cool.

• Barrels collect rainwater for landscape irrigation.

• Bamboo, a rapidly renewable resource, was used for the Assembly Room floor and the ceilings of the Oratory and Meditation Chapel.

Prior to beginning work on Holy Wisdom Monastery, Hoffman deconstructed Benedictine House. From the remains of the old building, 99.75 percent was diverted from landfills via recycling centers, reuse and donations. Crushed masonry from the demolished building was used for building landscape berms, and also in constructing the bed of the parking lot.

“I think the first thing that you are struck by when you enter the building is the natural light,” says Catherine Cruickshank, a senior project designer for Hoffman. “It’s pretty amazing when you are in the assembly room — it’s a 5,000-square foot space, and you don’t need to turn on any lights, even on a cloudy day.

“There are people that keep trying to find the light switch to turn it off — it brings a tremendous amount of light to the space,” she says. “We have carried this theme off throughout the facility, with skylights and Solatubes, to get as much natural light in as possible to minimize electric use.”

The Holy Wisdom Monastery project has been submitted to the United States Green Building Council in September, and is pursuing the highest LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] rating in the nation to date. The monastery boasts a total project cost of $241 per square foot, which includes all design and construction costs, demolition, commissioning and LEED certification costs.

“The sisters did not set out to set the record — that would not be consistent with Benedictine values of humility,” Cruickshank said. “But they said if we could get them all [LEED credits], it would be the icing on the cake. Their goal was to be sustainable as possible.”

Maintaining focus

Focus on Energy worked with Hoffman to provide technical assistance and energy modeling for the Holy Wisdom Monastery project. Using Focus on Energy’s New Construction Whole Building Track, the project was able to quantify the energy savings of the many energy efficiency improvements considered for the project.

The final efficiency features for the project included significant improvements to wall and roof insulation, highly efficient windows, the use of a ground source heat pump (geothermal) system, 90-percent efficient water heaters and a lighting system that takes advantage of natural daylight.

The project received a Focus incentive of $24,358 for the efficiency measures that were installed. Holy Wisdom also installed a 19.7 kilowatt roof-mounted solar electric system that is estimated to save 22,690 kilowatt hours annually. The solar electric system received an additional incentive of $35,000 from Focus.

“One thing that people always ask is how much it costs,” Wollin says of the Focus on Energy program, which is funded by Wisconsin utility companies. “Working with Focus is free, and it’s an easy process. Visit our website [www.focusonenergy.com] and look at the incentives. Or they can call our 800-number.” [1-800-762-7077]

By John Rondy

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