Electical Contractor

Walk into your local supermarket in mid-August, and the electricity consumption surrounds you.

Better known for its heroics on the battlefield, the U.S. Army is leading by example on another front: the fight to save energy. Earlier this year, the Army announced six installations that will participate in its pilot net-zero energy conservation program.

The ongoing energy-efficiency work at the Empire State Building has achieved another milestone on its journey toward sustainability leadership in the commercial real estate community by receiving its second Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Sometimes, big change comes in small steps. For example, consumers have long since bought, literally and figuratively, into the notion that they can do their part to save energy by making seemingly innocuous changes to their daily lives, such as purchasing only compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

It may be energy auditing. It may be retrocommissioning. It may be recertifying a green building. In any case, the move to monitor, benchmark and improve a building’s performance is taking hold and triggering a ripening market for electrical contractors.

Rising energy prices, government incentives and enhanced public image are driving energy efficiency in buildings to new heights as a growing number of building owners races to reduce energy consumption, according to the results of the fifth annual global Energy Efficiency Indicator Survey.

My last two columns introduced the first two pillars of the electrical contractor’s energy services business: conservation and efficiency. This column discusses the third pillar: energy production, which involves helping the customer reduce its recurring utility energy expenses.

As I mentioned in last month’s column, energy conservation is one of the four pillars of the electrical contractor’s energy services business. The other three pillars are energy efficiency, energy production and energy quality.

The energy revolution is influencing America’s electricity consumption. Data released recently by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows a discernible change in the country’s energy use. On one hand, Americans used less energy overall last year.