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Backed by a parent company that boasts more than 150 years in the industry, Siemens Building Technologies Inc. says it is positioned to serve the market’s growing demand for energy efficient projects. Its most recent undertaking is an energy performance contract for the University of Texas at Arlington, an $18 million project designed to provide guaranteed utility savings.

“This is [designed] for energy conservation measures for the university,” says Rick Corn, project manager. “We guarantee them an eight-year payback, eight years of guaranteed energy savings.”

The project started in September 2006 and is expected to be completed in January 2008. The contract consists of 18 energy conservation projects campus-wide, which include:

• $3.4 million used for installing energy-efficient lighting in 100 facilities
• $6.3 million for a new, more efficient chiller plant
• $1.6 million for transformer upgrades to reduce voltage in building use

In addition, Siemens is replacing the university’s existing mechanical steam traps and replacing larger, older motors on fans and pumps with new, more efficient motors. Other features include:

• Window solar films to reduce solar heat
• Motion-sensitive vending machines
• Increased capacity of the plate and frame heat exchanger to 4,000 tons, up from 2,000 tons in the thermal energy plant.

“The main benefit of [the project] is reducing energy consumption,” Corn says. “There is [guaranteed] drop in the demand for energy – electricity and natural gas – and capital improvements.” He adds that the university has been satisfied with Siemens’s work. “They are looking at extending this contract for another $13 million,” Corn continues. “They have been pleased with the outcome, their energy usage is down, and we’ve done really great things on this project to help the university.”

Buildings on campus average 30 years of age, Corn notes. “Some of these buildings are in that high-capital, maintenance improvement time,” he states. “Most of the building’s HVAC mechanical equipment is past its engineered life, and becomes more costly to repair and maintain as time goes by.”

Corn says that oftentimes, it takes a little extra effort to help Siemens’ customers understand how these projects can work. “The challenge is not executing the projects – we have a great deal of experience doing them – it’s more in the explaining how we guarantee energy savings and that the projects win financing on that basis,” he states.

“It’s just a challenge of getting people have the correct understanding of what we do and how it’s done. We offer options on how clients can finance these kinds of projects – including our own financing company, Siemens Financial Services, where they can obtain funding. The [University of Texas] obtained its loan from the state with a low interest rate. For performance-based energy projects like these, Siemens, on average, guarantees annual energy savings for a 10-year period, and if they don’t save the energy we’ve guaranteed on an annual basis during a given year, we will make up the difference.”

All in a Name
 “We’re not just in this [business] to make money,” Corn stresses. “We want to satisfy our clients, as well.” He adds the company’s local presence and its people’s personal involvement are what sets the company apart from its competition. “We’re on [the project site] on a daily basis,” he continues. “In this case, this is one of the things that the University of Texas at Arlington has been impressed with.”

In addition, the Siemens’ name says it all, Corn notes. “We’re a big company, but as big as we are, we deliver our experience and know-how locally, and we set our goals to satisfy our clients,” he notes. “It’s about making them happy and taking care of them.”

Corn says Siemens has been working with the university for about 25 years, which speaks volumes about the company’s relationship. “They know what we’re capable of,” he states. An example of the company’s service, Corn notes, is working at the University’s data center. “The University has a data center with a unique two- or three-level set up,” he says. “The data center is very critical to University operations because it houses information technology and computers for its campus, as well as other U of T system universities and offices. If the center were out of service for any length of time, the consequences could be far reaching. It was a three-and-a-half month project, but we had only had four hours of downtime [throughout the project] and the University was very pleased.”

Corn says the project consisted of adding two new chillers and associated piping, replacing four air handlers and piping and five data room air conditioning units.

Positive Impact
Siemens says its main focus is to make buildings “comfortable, safe, secure and less costly to operate.”

“Our mission is to help our customers manage their buildings’ energy costs, improve reliability and enhance performance,” Siemens stresses.