Written on: June 28, 2021 by ICM
Shelton, CT-based Budderfly announced it has added HVAC replacement and maintenance to its Energy Efficiency-as-a-Service (EEaaS) offerings. The company is targeting facilities such as assisted living, community centers, universities and more that have high-cost, aging and energy-wasting HVAC operations.
The new offering extends Budderfly’s no upfront cost, multi-component energy optimization program to cover aging and inefficient, packaged HVAC units up to 25 tons. As part of the offering, Budderfly has signed national agreements with major HVAC manufacturers to provide high-efficiency units made to Budderfly’s custom standards.
“The vast majority of businesses use cost as their main decision criteria—over efficiency—when selecting an HVAC replacement unit,” said Al Subbloie, CEO, Budderfly. “Our long-term savings model makes it possible for our customers to install the highest quality HVAC unit based on efficiency, not costs, while also receiving our world-class preventative maintenance. We are proud our EEaaS offering is removing the pricing barriers to embrace greener energy practices.”
In the Annual Energy Outlook 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that the commercial sector, which includes commercial and institutional buildings, used about 155 billion kWh for cooling in 2020, which was equal to about 12% of total commercial sector electricity consumption and 4% of total U.S. electricity consumption.
New, mid-range HVAC units have a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) rating of approximately 19-23, but the older units encountered by Budderfly have relatively low SEER ratings, meaning these systems are not very efficient. Upgrading an older air conditioner with a SEER of 10 to a newer model with a SEER of at least 19 under Budderfly’s HVAC replacement program will reduce a customer’s cooling costs by about half—notably contributing to lowering the commercial sector’s overall electricity consumption.
As part of the company’s overall EEaaS, Budderfly sub-meters HVAC-related operations at the point of energy consumption to create an average power usage baseline. Leveraging the sub-metering analytics as a guideline, the company either adjusts HVAC performance to optimize efficiency or performs a replacement of units and documents the decreased energy use. Budderfly has created a 100% transparent layered service model so customers can easily understand both the energy bill reduction from maintenance/replacement upgrades and how over time, the savings are being applied to recoup expenses or share with clients.
Greg Beidler, COO, Running Speciality Group (JackRabbit, Olympia Sports, Clever Training, Shoes.com, and Surf Outfitters), has taken advantage of Budderfly’s HVAC program to avoid large replacement expenses.
Beidler explains more, “We were looking at unplanned capital expenditures of over $100,000 and pleased to be the first customer to partner with Budderfly on their new HVAC replacement services as part of our overall EEaaS agreement,” he said. “Our first location went in like clockwork with no upfront capital cost and no planning on our part. We currently have three more locations scheduled for a total of seven HVAC units to be replaced. Budderfly’s program included both preventative and break/fix maintenance for a very small fee, allowing us to focus on our retail business and not facility management.”
Source: Budderlfy
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/budderfly-adds-hvac-replacement-and-maintenance-to-its-energy-efficiency-as-a-service-301319583.html
