News & Announcements3/12/2010 | BLJC energy savings project contributes to $1.37-million savings for “Big 5 Bank” The BLJC energy and sustainability team has contributed to a $1.37-million savings in energy consumption for one of Canada’s top banks. “We were given this mandate to roll out an energy reduction program, and we built it from scratch,” says Program Manager Elliot Hickey. “Our customer spends almost $20 million a year in utility costs, and we were able to reduce that by about 10 per cent by doing things you would do in your own home.” Measures that were taken to reduce energy consumption included ensuring each branch had a programmable thermostat and setting them to a schedule that followed branch hours so that the building was not heated or cooled unnecessarily during off hours. Set points on the hot-water tanks in each branch were lowered, and settings on timers for outdoor lights and signage reduced. At a few of the larger sites a recommissioning team was created to follow through the branch’s various systems to ensure they were set up and running at optimal settings. The team also retrofitted sites with newer, more efficient lighting systems. Energy and sustainability solutions specialist Jim Dyke says the team’s accomplishment is noteworthy considering how quickly it was carried out over such a wide geography. “The exciting part was a lot of people didn’t know if we could do a program like that in the time frame (we had) and roll it out across the country and get the savings we did,” says Dyke. Director of energy services Joe Bilé says for fiscal year 2009, the program resulted in savings of $1,376,693. He adds that the $2-million energy saving innovation project by the BLJC team, in conjunction with several other measures were the factors that resulted in the savings. “The good energy efficiency stewardship efforts of BLJC facility management and project delivery team, and the efforts of our client and its employees responding to energy awareness messaging provided to the branch organization,” also likely contributed to the savings, says Bilé. The bank also undertook a number of projects, including installing newer, more efficient equipment, which helped shrink the energy usage, he says. Looking to 2010, the BLJC energy and sustainability team will continue to help the bank with other energy efficiency projects, including lighting retrofits. The team has also put in a proposal to monitor a sampling of the bank’s automated bank machine (ABM) network to help them better understand the energy consumption characteristics of the machines. “What they’re realizing is that depending on the vintage of the machines, there are potentially different levels of efficiency,” says Bilé, noting the BLJC team’s tracking of the current profile of the machines could be used in figuring out potential upgrades to more energy efficient technology. |
