Energy for Nonprofits:Making Your Facility Work for You

February 22, 2007

A Presentation for the Nonprofit Partnership of the Erie Community Foundation

Most nonprofits have substantial opportunities to reduce their energy costs through simple changes in how they operate their facilites. A good place to start is by developing your energy benchmark. This will show how your facility's usage compares to that of similar buildings. Follow the steps below to calculate your energy benchmark. For other highlights from the February 2007 workshop see For More Information below.

• Gather one year’s worth of all energy bills, and your facilities’ square footage
  
• Calculate total yearly usage for each fuel type
  
• If your facility uses electricity and gas, use the following formula to calculate your energy usage (in kBtu) per square foot
  kBtu/sqft = ((kWh * 3.4) + (ccf * 100))/sqft
  

For More Information

• Commonwealth Community Energy Project, Kathy Greely, (814) 332-2986
  
• Energy Star for Buildings & Plants, including Portfolio Manager, Guidelines for Energy Management http://www.energystar.gov
  
• USDOE Building Technologies Program, http://www.eere.doe.gov/buildings/
  
  • Grants—innovation only!
    
  • PA DEP Energy Harvest www.dep.state.pa.us
    
  • Penelec Sustainable Energy Fund www.cfalleghenies.org
    
• Rate Schedules:
  
  • Penelec Customer Center at 1-800-545-7741
    
  • National Fuel Gas at 800-365-3234, or 814-871-8266
    
  • Sales Tax Exemption Unit of PA Department of Revenue, 717-783-5473
    
• Energy Management Planning
  
  • Adopt an energy policy & goal
    
  • Appoint energy manager and team
    
  • Continue tracking energy usage and costs
    
  • Motivate & educate employees
    
  • Energy audit/identify projects
    
  • Prioritize & establish timeline
    
  • Allocate a budget
    
  • Implement actions
    
  • Evaluate & publicize results