UW Health Reduces Peak Loads and Achieves Savings Through Utility Incentive Program

Leaders in energy efficiency know that goals are rarely achieved without trying something new. Better Buildings Challenge healthcare partner UW Health recently took advantage of an energy incentive pilot program offered through their local utility, and managed to reduce demand levels for three campus buildings by 12 percent in just one summer, saving over $30,000.

UW Health’s Solution at a Glance, “BAS Optimization Reduces Peak Load Across UW Health Campus,” explains how they were able to participate in the Wisconsin Focus on Energy Program’s Demand Savings pilot. Participants saved $10 on every kilowatt of demand avoided during the peak summer months. The program gave UW Health access to a free energy dashboard that could communicate with their building automation system, giving them real-time data on energy use to better predict peak loads and proactively adjust temperate settings based on comparisions to building performance data from the previous year. 

They saved over $9,000 on utility bills in the summer of 2016, and earned an additional $22,000 in incentives based on actual demand reduction. The total return for three buildings over four months with savings and incentives: over $32,000!

Other utilities across the country have incentive programs and partnerships that businesses can use to help them get started saving energy and money. To learn more about them, visit the DSIRE database. To learn more about UW Health’s Solution at a Glance, check it out in the Better Buildings Solution Center.