It was a long time in the making, but with patience, we had helped the Management of The Towers at Laguna Woods bigtime by saving big bucks! Management finally pulled the trigger to undergo an overdue energy efficiency and modernization upgrade. Ed Presley, Maintenance Engineer, for the past 40 years at the Towers was the driving force behind this project.
“The ever increasing cost of electricity and the increase in maintenance cost to maintain the old equipment was the main reason for this upgrade,” Presley said.
To get this difficult project off the ground, Presley contacted ADEC, Inc. in Torrance to help with the engineering and energy efficiency study of the Towers. Since the building was constructed in the late Seventies with minor improvements over the years, it was ready for a major upgrade.
The original process started in late 2015 when ADEC, Inc. replaced 10,800 incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient LED bulbs throughout the facility “free of charge” to the Towers. This was possible through SCE’s energy efficiency rebate programs which amounted to $ 115,000.00 Dollars, which ADEC, Inc. promoted and arranged.
During this process, the experts at ADEC, Inc. discovered that much more electricity can be saved if additional changes were made to the old equipment, like replacing outdated light fixtures and installing a wireless lighting control system. The outdated fixtures were replaced with more output, less consumption light fixtures and the lighting control system helped automate the process. ADEC Inc had also replaced the outdated thermostats with “smart” thermostats, along with a new energy management system. Additionally, blocking the suns heat-load on the building by installing Ceramic Window film to all glass, this will improve comfort and provides excellent savings. Finally, the inefficient 42 year old Transformers also needed to be replaced to bring the building into the 21st century.
ADEC, Inc. calculated that the $2.2 million Dollar energy efficiency upgrade will pay for itself with the energy savings created in approximately 10 to 12 years. The progressive Board members with President, Ryna Rothberg agreed and South County Bank in Irvine was happy to finance the energy saving project.
“Adec, Inc can help to reduce energy cost , reduce emissions and meet your legal requirements. We can help to reduce the carbon footprint of a building in a number of ways
We provide solutions to enable clients to rapidly achieve permanent energy & cost reductions “
Having 95% of the project completed, the Board and Presley are more than satisfied with the first results at the end of 2018. When comparing the old to new SCE’s electric bills it substantiated the calculated energy savings of approximate $15 to $20 thousand Dollars monthly in savings and lowered the carbon footprint of the building by thousands of tons.
Final results are as follows, you make improvements, let the energy savings pay for it, cut pollution substantially and feeling good of having done your part of being “Green” for all of us, Presley said.
