If you look at someone like our Chief Engineer and COO , Kent Peterson , he ’ s on the Federal Green Building Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Federal Building Decarbonization Task Group . At ASHRAE , he chairs the Task Force for Building Decarbonization and recently chaired the ASHRAE Building Decarbonization Position Document Committee . There ’ s also Senior Mechanical Engineer Cindy Callaway who is involved in ASHRAE Guideline 36 , which deals with the sequence of operations for high-performing buildings . James Del Monaco , director of our San Diego office , is the vice-chair for ASHRAE Technical Committee 1.4 Control Theory and Application , which ties very closely with energy . We have staff at every level who are embedded in these international professional organizations and are helping to shape the standards and best practices that the entire industry will use .
What are some examples of successful energy projects you ’ ve delivered to clients ?
TS : Our team finished a decarbonization road map report for a private manufacturing facility . This was an exciting project because of the aggressive energy and GHG emission goals the client has set for themselves for the near future . This project included providing an ASHRAE energy audit , identifying energy and GHG emission reduction measures , an onsite generation study , and a life cycle cost analysis to give a series of recommendations for the client to implement through the next few years to meet their energy and GHG emission goals .
We work with multiple higher education institutions to develop similar campus-wide energy and GHG emission reduction road maps .
P2S has completed various energy improvement projects for K-12 districts to reduce energy consumption and operational costs utilizing Proposition 39 funding from the state of California .
Another project focused on sustainability and energy is the UCR Student Success Center . The delivery method for this project was design-build , which included extensive collaboration during design with the client and other partners . The project targeted LEED Gold and is currently awaiting credit review from the USGBC .
P2S also has extensive experience in microgrid analysis , especially in the last few years . These projects analyze the use of renewable energy and battery storage to achieve resiliency and sustainability goals . We are currently working with
Q2 / 2022 several California universities to develop plans for a robust microgrid system for each campus .
In 2020 , our healthcare team received a $ 1.6 million grant from the California Energy Commission for Decarbonization of Healthcare Buildings for our innovative design strategies at Kaiser Baldwin Park Medical Center . The grant money is being used to improve metering and monitoring across the hospital ’ s infrastructure to ensure efficiency measures are optimized for maximum energy savings .
What current trends in the energy market do you see growing in the future ?
TS : I ’ ve already spoken about decarbonization and electrification , but I want to emphasize how widespread these trends will become in the notso-distant future . Microgrids are also a trend that is accelerating in the market . These trends all go a long way toward providing environmentally friendly , climate adaptable and resilient facilities for clients , and I think everyone agrees that adoption will grow significantly in the coming years .
Take electrification , for instance ; currently , electric equipment is still carbon dependent because our current grid is also carbon dependent . But even so , electrification allows owners to move away from fossil fuels like natural gas in their facilities . In the future , we can assume that more grid electricity will come from renewables and other zero-carbon energy sources . But at the moment , owners need to understand their local grid , their facility , and the demand before replacing a gas boiler with an electric heating source . It can still produce a good amount of greenhouse gas depending on the equipment operation because it may still source energy from a fossil fuel-burning grid . An analysis should be done to ensure that any electrification efforts make sense with the current and long-term carbon intensity forecast of the electric grid .
Beneficial electrification replaces direct fossil fuel use ( e . g ., natural gas , propane , heating oil ) with electricity to reduce overall emissions and energy costs . It does not benefit building owners to electrify and increase energy costs or greenhouse gas emissions . This is why analysis is critical ; it helps clients know how much and what type of electrification is beneficial .