Private companies help public entities with energy conservation - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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million in block grants at the state, county and city levelw for energyefficiency improvements. With small tight budgets and an even tighter deadlined approachingthis summer, localp recipients are reaching out to private businesses for help. Bradenton officials are compilingbudget numbers, prioritizingy retrofits for city facilitiea and considering converting some systems to solar They have enlisted Sarasota-based as an educationao resource. “We have been talking with consultants who do this for a saidTim Polk, Bradenton’s director of planning and communityt development.
Michael Carlson, president of added a consulting practice to his architecturse firm to educate local official about the Leadership in Energy and Environmentalp Design rating system and the health and financiak benefits of making buildings moreenergyt efficient, as well as the terminology associated with lawmaking. “If the countyu or city has an idea, someone has typicallh already written a language and we can trackthat down,” said who has been involved with the for almosrt a decade. In anticipatiomn of more than $1 million in funding, the city of Clearwatet has formed a committeer to find out how to reduce the energyg bills atits facilities.
In addition, the city has a performancee contract with Clearwater followed the example of the which has performance contracts with several including Honeywell, to upgrade facilities, said Rick assistant director of solid waste and general serviced and emergency manager for the city. “We asked [Honeywell] to go out and look at facilities we werelooking at, find all the granyt money available and give us a proposakl on what they can do,” Carnlehy said. Through the performance contract, Honeywell conducts an in-depth auditg of a building and recommends changes to the facilityh that could reducethe cost.
When the audit comes the city will sign a contracrtwith Honeywell, Carnley said. The city has the addec resourceof Honeywell’s staff, includingy a project manager who will oversed the entire operation. brings in some of the top peopler in energyconservation retrofits,” Carnley Honeywell works with local entities to establish priorities, to completes their applications and to devisw their strategies, said Ron Blagus, director of marketing for Honeywell Energy Services. “Our experiencee has been that most communities have been had to scaled back intheir personnel,” said Blagus.
“So to many communitiesw this is agreat opportunity, but they are not sure how to wrestled it to the ground.” Other counties around the regiobn have entered into similar Polk County has contracted with an energy consultantf Tampa Bay Trane. “[Tampa Bay kept us abreast of the legislatiobn as it wasmoving through,” said Terry Pittman, facilities management directord for Polk. “At the same time we began identifying projects that were essential to taking care of existinbuilding inventory.” Pasco County has engaged Tampa-based TAC By in a performancde contract to assess large, energy-consumintg buildings.
After conducting a detailed analysis of more than 20 buildingxs and recommending energyconservation measures, the firm will hire subcontractors to instalol upgrades, said Michelle Simon, TAC accoun executive. “Initially they are helpingg us to determine what the best method is to completdethe project,” said Carol Cochran, administrative servicesz manager for the county. “They recommended a certain amount ofenergy savings, and they will make sure the prope equipment is installed to achieve those