EASI, Freeman-Webb Win Energy Efficiency Award

Energy conversation technologies installed at the Nashville House, a 150,000-square-foot office building in Tennessee, helped property management firm Freeman-Webb achieve 22 percent in annual energy savings. The energy savings reduced the payback period for the system to less than 32 months.

Energy Automation Systems Inc., which installed the system, and Freeman-Webb received the 2012 Energy Management Recognition Award for the achievement. The Association of Energy Engineers-Middle Tennessee Chapter and Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Energy Efficiency issued the award.

Previous award winners include Tennsco Corp., for lighting and HVAC automation improvements at one of the company’s plants and Fushi Copperweld for an industrial lighting retrofit, according to the Association of Energy Engineers-Middle Tennessee Chapter.

Freeman-Webb had requested at least a 21 percent annual energy savings and a 36-month payback period on its investment in conservation technologies for the Nashville House. EASI, which offers 18 product technologies that reduce electrical system energy consumption and utility bills by cutting system waste and excess heat, was able to top that request.

The 34-year-old company helped BP Solar several years ago cut its greenhouse gas emissions and electricity costs at one of its US manufacturing plants by installing its energy conservation technologies.

An increasing number of commercial businesses are installing systems to manage and conserve energy. Last year, Best Buy implemented an energy management system across its 1,105 US retail locations, a move expected to reduce the company’s energy costs and carbon output by 15 percent within three years.

Some 63 percent of retailers now have an energy management system in at least 50 percent of their stores, according to a May report by the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association. The figures come from the PRSM’s 2012 Benchmarking Report, its first benchmarking report on HVAC costs and best practices for retail and multi-site facilities.