Community College Retrofits Lighting with LED Tube Lights

Seesmart Embarks on $2.3 Million Lighting Retrofit of Pasadena City College
Over 34,000 LED tube lights to be installed across campus of third-largest community college in U.S.

Simi Valley, CA, USA — 7 March, 2012 – LED lighting manufacturer Seesmart, Inc. has secured a $2.3 million contract with Pasadena City College for a lighting retrofit to further its reputation as a leader in sustainability.  The retrofit will replace more than 34,000 fluorescent tube lights in campus buildings with high-efficiency, long-lasting Seesmart LED tube lights.

Pasadena City College’s anticipated LED retrofit benefits include significant energy savings of $720,000 and 3.7 million kilowatt-hours per year, and its carbon footprint will reduce by 5 million pounds per year.  Additionally, the college expects an $850,000 rebate from Pasadena Water Power for this energy-saving project.

“Pasadena City College is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in sustainability,” remarked Richard van Pelt, CFO and assistant president of Pasadena City College.  “The move to replace all fluorescent lamps on campus with LEDs represents what we are about—global leadership in everything we do.  Not only will this save more than 55 percent of electrical consumption for lighting, but it saves in manufacturing resources and disposal costs and impacts.  We start saving money on the first day the LEDs are installed, so the payback is instantaneous.”

In the course of Pasadena City College’s lighting retrofit, classrooms, offices, stairwells, parking structures, gymnasium, and mechanical rooms of 26 buildings will be converted from fluorescent to LED lighting.  The contract for this massive project was issued using the California Multiple Award Schedules (CMAS). 

"Integrating Seesmart LED lighting products into Pasadena City College’s infrastructure will not only save energy, it will bring cost avoidance opportunities,” said Ray Sjolseth, President of Seesmart, Inc.  “The long lifespan of our LED products obviates the need for frequent replacement of individual lamps.  This minimizes maintenance costs and facility waste and means that on-staff labor will be available for other servicing needs.”

About Seesmart
Seesmart, Inc. is a division of Seesmart Holdings, Inc.  Seesmart, Inc. is a complete LED lighting solutions company with decades of experience in research and development, manufacturing and distribution.  Seesmart offers a broad product line to meet most commercial or residential needs and delivers a rapid ROI, high-quality products backed by up to a five-year warranty, immediate energy savings and true retrofit solutions.  For more information, please visit www.seesmartled.com.

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements, expectations, intentions, strategies and beliefs regarding the future.  All statements contained herein are based upon information available to the management of Seesmart as of the date hereof, and actual results may vary based upon future events, both within and without the control of the management, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.
 
Management does not take any responsibility to update the contents of this News Release in case new aspects arise or new conditions change the facts available.

Greenblock Insulated Concrete Forms

Greenblock Insulated Concrete Forms: More Than Energy Efficient and Resistant to Forces of Nature

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Habitat for Humanity is well-known for developing affordable housing, but its design and construction volunteers are also finding job sites fun as they learn how to build more sustainably with insulated concrete forms (ICF).

“One of the things I like with the product is our people enjoy their time on the job site,” said Habitat for Humanity of Seminole County’s Executive Director Penny Seater. “I just think there are so many plusses for our families and our volunteers,” she said.

The reduced weight of the forms during assembly means, there are less fingers smashed compared with other construction materials, and a lot fewer sore muscles, as well as less overall volunteer safety concerns for Habitat Seminole.

Greenblock Worldwide, LLC, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., was the manufacturer chosen for the Insulated Concrete Forms for two recently completed single-family, green and affordable homes for Habitat of Seminole County.

These homes are located in the Central Florida neighborhood of Altamonte Springs. John Riddle, Greenblock’s LEED Accredited Professional and Southeast Territory Manager, was present from pre-construction to final punch list, offering the project’s volunteers both technical and moral support.

The two homes were built side by side each with 1,556 sq. ft. of Greenblock ICF wall, one to the Florida Green Building Coalition’s (FGBC) green building rating system and one to the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system. The LEED Home is anticipated to achieve Gold certification. Greenblock 2-4-2/4 inch core product was installed. The designer was Baker Barrios Architects, Inc., and the structural engineer was JHR Consultants, Inc.

Riddle, who serves as chairman of the USGBC’s Central Florida Chapter, and his chapter’s volunteers donated many hours of sustainable design and construction consulting time to the project team.  The structures are Habitat Seminole’s first LEED and FGBC registered projects. Nearby Evergreen University provided many of the volunteer ICF installers on one of the homes while local Habitat Seminole volunteers rolled up their sleeves to build the other one.

Once the households were occupied during the summer of 2011, the new home owners reported more than a 75 percent drop in utility bills compared to their last residences, going from over $400 per month to less than $100 electricity bills.

“That’s a tremendous savings,” said Seater, adding: “In low income housing, lower utility bills can be the difference between food on the table or not.” Deeper savings can be achieved with lower insurance costs due to reduced property damage during natural disasters in an ICF home.

In Florida, termites and hurricanes are also concerns but with Greenblock walls those worries are gone as well, she noted. A Greenblock ICF wall has a solid concrete core providing a hurricane, tornado, and seismic resistant home.

Numerous savings were recognized with Greenblock ICF, including time of construction because it can be installed faster than concrete blocks or wood frame construction methods. The ease of fitting blocks together and factory produced pre-engineering means less construction site waste. Furthermore, furring strips are built-in from the inside and outside; the self-contained vapor barrier eliminates the need for a house wrap.

You can even downsize the HVAC system for additional savings up front and for the long-term as less cooling cycles are required by the unit and that lowers utilities cost while providing less ongoing worn parts to replace and an overall longer life span for the heating and cooling units.

Greenblock President Jimmy Myrick explained the speed and ease of building with Greenblock ICFs helps affordable housing project developers achieve very efficient design and construction schedules while reducing the need for job training.

“These recent projects provided Habitat’s volunteers with a fulfilling experience as they learned how to work with a new wall system with just a few hours of training,” Myrick said. He added, “This helps Habitat keep its volunteers working on schedule and until the home is completed, plus they often come back for the next project.”

It is a relative quick construction method, the team can put up the home in a very short time. When using volunteer time, this is a very important factor, since most have other jobs and are available for short periods of time; therefore getting the home finished quickly also helps retain volunteers.

In fact, Seater said the next home they build is scheduled for ground breaking in January 2012 and will utilize the Greenblock ICFs which weigh approximately 3 pounds. The future homes will be following the same design executed on the Altamonte Springs homes, including installation of Greenblock ICF walls, as Habitat Seminole strives to replicate the same sustainable building performance with volunteers from nearby religious institutions and many satisfied helpers returning.

As the green initiative continues to gain ground with homeowners it is projected that when these homes sell they will be in greater demand for their safety, savings and sustainability. Your home is your castle and the new homeowners plan on being there for a long time. Building with Greenblock means the home will outlast any other method of construction out there.

 

HVAC Motors Can Be More Efficient

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — Energy efficiency efforts tend to focus on things such as lighting and insulation. But, in fact, motors that run heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are the largest user of energy in buildings.

At the same time, motor related efficiency requirements are relatively lax. There is no independent verification of motor efficiency, the equivalent of cutting out the Environmental Protection Agency and allowing car makers to say how many miles per gallon their vehicles get.

Sadrul Ula, who is research faculty at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), is trying to change that. He recently received a $385,000 grant from the California Energy Commission to evaluate the efficiency of HVAC motors in building through testing on-site and in a soon-to-be built facility at CE-CERT.

"Everyone turns off lights or bathroom fans," said Ula, who is also managing director of the Winston Chung Global Energy Center at CE-CERT. "But, no one turns off motors. The awareness is not there."

In recent years, large-scale clean energy projects, such as solar and wind farms, have generated many headlines, pushing energy efficiency efforts to the side. But those relatively simple energy efficiency steps can have a large impact. A 2009 report by McKinsey & Company found the United States could reduce annual energy consumption by 23 percent by 2020 by deploying energy efficiency measures.

In California, nearly 47 percent of electrical energy consumption was used by commercial buildings. Motors that create that energy tend to operate at 5 to 10 percent below optimal efficiency, Ula said. Increasing that efficiency can have enormous implications.

To view full press release and downloadable illustration and photo visit: http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/3078

EPA’s FY 2013 Budget Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2012

EPA's FY 2013 Budget Proposal Focuses on Core Environmental and Human Health Protections

EPA budget supports President Obama's vision of an America that is built to last

WASHINGTON – Today the Obama Administration proposed a FY 2013 budget of $8.344 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This budget reflects a government-wide effort to reduce spending and find cost-savings, and is $105 million below the EPA's enacted level for FY 2012. The FY 2013 budget is the result of EPA's ongoing efforts to carefully consider potential cost savings and reductions while continuing its commitment to core environmental and health protections -- safeguarding Americans from pollution in the air they breathe, the water they drink and the land where they build their communities. 

"This budget is focused on fulfilling EPA's core mission to protect health and the environment for millions of American families. It demonstrates fiscal responsibility, while still supporting clean air, healthy waters and innovative safeguards that are essential to an America built to last," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "It has taken hard work and difficult choices to reach this balanced approach, and while we had to make sacrifices, we have maintained our commitment to the core priorities of this agency and ensured the protections the American people expect and deserve."

 Key FY 2013 budget highlights include:

Supporting State Governments. The budget proposes $1.2 billion in categorical grants for states that are on the front lines implementing environmental statutes such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The increases from FY 2012 levels include nearly $66 million for State and Tribal Air Quality Management grants, nearly $27 million for Pollution Control (Clean Water Act Section 106) grants, and about $29 million for the Tribal General Assistance Program.

Protecting America's Waters. The proposal provides $2 billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving funds (SRFs). This will allow the SRFs to finance over $6 billion in wastewater and drinking water infrastructure projects annually. EPA will work to target assistance to small and underserved communities with limited ability to repay loans, while maintaining state program integrity.

Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites in Communities. The proposal includes $755 million in funding for the Superfund Cleanup program which maintains funding to support cleanup at hazardous waste sites that address emergencies (Superfund Emergency Response and Removal) at the nation's highest priority sites (Superfund Remedial).

Investing in Cutting Edge Research. EPA's proposed budget provides $576 million to support research and innovation. Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants are funded at $81 million to conduct research in key areas such as hydraulic fracturing, potential endocrine disruptors, and green infrastructure. Building upon ongoing research and collaborating with the Department of Energy and the US Geological Survey, a total $14 million investment will begin to assess potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on air quality, water quality, and ecosystems.  The EPA also will release an Interim Report on the Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources in 2012.

Ongoing Support to Economically and Environmentally Vital Water Bodies. To ensure the progress made during the past three years continues, EPA is proposing $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Programs and projects will target the most significant environmental problems in the Great Lakes. About $73 million, which is a $15 million increase, will fund the Chesapeake Bay program's continued implementation of the President's Executive Order on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration. Funding will support bay watershed states as they implement their plans to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution in an unprecedented effort to restore this economically important ecosystem.

Protecting Americans from Harmful Chemicals. EPA is proposing $68 million, an increase of $11 million from FY 2012, to reduce chemical risks, increase the pace of chemical hazard assessments, and provide the public with greater access to toxic chemical information. Funding will sustain the agency's successes in managing the potential risks of new chemicals coming into the market and accelerating the progress to help ensure the safety of chemicals on the market that have not been tested for adverse human health and environmental impacts. 

Next Generation Compliance. EPA's budget proposal requests $36 million to support "Next Generation Compliance", a new enforcement model designed to enhance EPA's ability to detect violations that impact public health. The three components of this approach are: promoting electronic reporting by facilities, modifying data systems to implement electronic reporting, and deploying modern monitoring technology. This will work toward improved compliance and transparency, and more efficient processes that do not rely on paper-based reporting. And, create cost savings and efficiencies for EPA, states and industry.

Supporting the National Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Standards Program. The budget contains a $10 million increase to the EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory for certification and compliance testing programs and to evaluate new biofuels technologies. The national program of fuel economy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) standards for light duty vehicles alone will save approximately 12 billion barrels of oil and prevent 6 billion metric tons of GHG emissions over the lifetime of the vehicles sold through model year 2025. These funds will improve testing methods for the agency's renewable fuels program, and the GHG and fuel economy programs intended to reduce dependence on oil and save consumers money at the pump.

Reducing and Eliminating Programs. The budget includes $50 million in savings by eliminating several EPA programs that have either completed their goals or can be implemented through other federal or state efforts.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/budget