CEG Services
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Assess & Analyze
We perform initial assessments and detailed audits and leverage data-driven analysis to craft solutions that improve energy, water, and operational efficiency.
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Design & Engineer
We combine our detailed analysis and construction expertise to develop practical solutions that produce real results for years to come.
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Finance
We provide solutions that pay for themselves from the energy-related savings they produce. We can provide competitive financing for our projects.
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Implement
We implement and commission facility upgrades using time-tested processes that deliver high-quality and low-risk solutions on-time and on-budget.
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Ongoing Operations
We provide a wide range of ongoing services to support our clients. We seek to ensure that our solutions continue to perform for years to come.
Assess & Analyze
Our team performs both initial assessments and detailed audits and leverages our design approach to transform our findings into practical solutions that produce real results. Before we visit your facility, our engineers review available facility documentation, utility consumption data, submeter data, and trend data against relevant benchmarks. Using the preliminary analysis, we develop a targeted site visit plan to develop operational cost savings and implementation cost estimates. Once onsite, we work with your team to understand the operational characteristics of the building and efficiently gather relevant data. We can also provide LEED/EnergyStar and energy security reviews. Our team has performed energy audits for a wide range of buildings and can identify and quantify the most feasible solutions for your particular facility. Through each stage of the ESPC project, our strong foundations as a general contractor and our unparalleled local subcontractor network afford us strong advantages. In designing a comprehensive package of ECMs, we employ a data-driven approach to improve accuracy of baseline and savings calculations. During the development phase, the CEG team often relies on logged/trended data for its models of mechanical systems, rather than relying solely on nameplate readings or “industry averages” which may not reflect actual operating parameters. Our engineers collect performance data for mechanical equipment in a longitudinal fashion (over a period of weeks or months rather than at a few discrete points in time) to better understand the energy consumption profiles of the systems. Our data-driven approach also serves the secondary function of uncovering hidden opportunities for savings. We have found that data logging and analysis can lead to ECMs that may otherwise be overlooked.
Design & Engineer
Our team is fully capable of transforming our analysis into practical solutions that produce real results. With a team of professionals in structural, mechanical, electrical, and energy engineering, we can leverage these specialties to create tailor-made plans and specs designed specifically for your facility. These engineers then work hand-in-hand with our construction team to ensure that implementation is completed as designed. You can feel confident that the product and installation you will receive is of the highest quality. In fact, our unique approach is built upon sharing key personnel and expertise across phases so that we can eliminate the “chasm” between development and implementation. In the development phase, we are able to leverage our construction capabilities and experience to quickly and accurately (1) assess the constructability of ECMs that we are planning to implement, (2) determine the fully-installed costs of ECMs, (3) identify alternative implementation approaches that may reduce implementation costs, and (4) assess and mitigate the construction risks associated with implementing proposed ECMs in fully operational, mission critical buildings like those of OPM. Our ability to project these elements of construction enables us to iterate early in the design phase – this saves development time and money, and it reduces construction costs and risks.
Finance
Our solutions are designed to pay for themselves from the energy-related savings they produce. Our clients benefit from energy-related upgrades and infrastructure renewal without requiring upfront capital. We can arrange financing that will be repaid using the guaranteed savings that the project will generate. Under such an arrangement, if we were to fail to deliver on our guarantee, the lenders would look to us, not you, to make up the shortfall. We have experience using a breadth of financing structures including, enhanced use leases, equipment leases, energy services contracts, bond financing, tax credit financing, and power purchase agreements. The result for you is improved energy security, increased sustainability, and reduced operating expenses that do not need affect existing budget levels.
If project financing is not structured carefully, financing costs can derail an otherwise attractive project. We work to minimize the total cost to our clients within project objectives and source from multiple financing sources to ensure competitive rates. We identify available incentives from state/local governments, utilities, and the federal government that can be used to offset project costs, and we structure the transactions to leverage these incentives.
The Department of Energy awarded CEG a $5 billion IDIQ ESPC contract that allows us to contract with any federal agency for energy-related projects. This vehicle allows us to pay for your agency’s project using the future guaranteed utility savings — requiring no appropriated dollars — and leverage a proven process, reduce financing costs, and replace aging infrastructure and decrease operations expenses.
Implement
We are well equipped to effectively manage all of the processes related to implementation from subcontractor selection through commissioning. Our experience effectively selecting subcontractors (from our expansive network of pre-vetted firms) allows us to drive down costs with procedures and protocol that provide transparency and clarity to the project’s scope of work. Our subcontractor selection and management procedures have been refined and improved over the years to include a variety of proven quality assurance / control, safety, and risk management procedures. We have the depth of experience necessary to foresee many potential implementation problems in facilities, and we have the ability to adeptly contain and manage problems that do arise. Especially in occupied, operational facilities, construction can be a very sensitive issue. We have a proven portfolio major retrofit/renovation projects in operational/occupied facilities), which prepares us for many of the construction protocols that are necessary to minimize the impact on building occupants. With CEG’s long-established contracting experience and engineering expertise, the CEG team is prepared to implement complex energy & water projects, including renewables, in a timely and low-risk fashion.
CEG has completed countless renovations that have provided us with experience upgrading equipment in operational environments. We implement energy improvements with minimal disturbance to building occupants and work with facility managers to minimize disruption to building functions. Through proper scheduling and coordination with involved parties, we aim to retrofit your facility without disruption to building operations.
Our energy solutions are not limited to retrofitting aging buildings. Our business model can also be applied to new construction projects to reduce the total cost of ownership of your building. Unlike traditional “value engineering” that reduces first cost at the expense of lifecycle costs, we identify upgrades to building systems that will reduce the total cost of ownership.
Rather than viewing commissioning as the last step in the implementation process, we view it as the first step in ensuring that our projects are successful over the long-term. We consistently subcontract with third-party commissioners and have seen the benefits of this approach. The improved technical solutions and risk reductions inherent in a third-party approach are invaluable and, as such, we generally employ external commissioning authorities to work on our projects. CEG is committed to working with commissioning agents, not against them. Our breadth of experience in different project roles gives us a deep understanding of the commissioning process and how to best integrate the commissioning agents into projects. We strive to ensure that Cx agents 1) are integrated early in the development process, 2) become deeply involved members of the project team, and 3) design rigorous tests. This will allow for third-party feedback and an enhanced understanding of the project that will simplify and expedite future commissioning reviews and tests. Deep involvement in the project team allows for enhanced understanding, more impactful feedback, and a more efficient process.
Ongoing Operations
System reliability gives your facility managers the ability to focus on what matters most — the building tenants. Our approach stresses preventative maintenance so systems run smoothly and efficiently. But, our drive to deliver comprehensive energy savings does not end at project acceptance. We are committed to the sustainability of energy savings throughout the lifetime of a project. In fact, our goal for the operations phase of the project is to increase savings over the life of the project. We provide the following services:
To ensure that savings are being realized, CEG leverages internationally accepted M&V protocols to provide the facility manager with proof that savings are being generated. We also use M&V to detect any (potential) degradation in equipment performance early so that corrective actions can be taken. We structure our M&V plans to balance M&V expense for an ECM with the risks of its ongoing performance. Where appropriate, we install monitoring/measurement equipment during ECM implementation so that ECM performance can be monitored remotely and on a more continuous basis.
Retro-commissioning, or ongoing commissioning, helps verify that the equipment and controls sequences can adapt over time to changing building uses and operations patterns while operating as efficiently as possible. We find that our clients often get the biggest return on investment from money that we budget to identify and implement these ongoing improvements.
Proper operations and maintenance of equipment (preventive maintenance in particular) is critical to its ability to deliver proposed savings over its expected life. We work closely with our clients to determine the appropriate delineation of O&M responsibility and execute O&M plans. The CEG team offers a range of O&M services ranging from daily support to annual system audits. Sound maintenance of installed systems can ultimately increase system life beyond the design life expectancy and maintain or increase utility savings over time.
We develop cost-effective, preventative R&R plans to help maintain or improve ECM performance. For example, we typically recommend mass-relamping programs for lighting, which is less costly than one-off lamp replacements. As technology improves, it often becomes cost-effective to install more efficient replacement equipment, which helps to increase project savings over time.
Personnel change is almost inevitable during a project. Building occupants often play a key role in continuous equipment performance. For these two reasons, we find it beneficial to provide ongoing programs to educate and motivate building occupants to take actions to generate additional savings.