Envision: Charlotte energy initiative kicks off

Premium content from Charlotte Business Journal by John Downey, Senior Staff Writer Date: Friday, October 28, 2011, 6:00am EDT

Envision: Charlotte, a $5.3 million public-

Downey
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private partnership aimed at cutting energy use uptown by 20% in five years, kicks off today. It does so with 64 of its 69 targeted buildings signed on. And a nonprofit has been created to expand on its sustainability features.

The project is a joint venture involving Duke Energy Corp.,Cisco Systems Inc., Charlotte Center City Partners andVerizon Wireless. It was announced just over a year ago at the Clinton Global Initiative. Dukes piece of the program will be showcased at a launch party starting at 11:30 a.m. at Two Wells Fargo Center Plaza. In the afternoon, there will be a demonstration of kiosks that will be placed in the participating buildings displaying energy information. Vincent Davis, director of Smart Energy Now Community Partnerships for Duke, says all 64 buildings have been wired with smart meters that will enable the buildings owners and tenants to track power use virtually in real time. The information can be broken down by floor, functions (such as lighting or cooling) and even by offices. The digital-display kiosks for the public were to have been installed in more than 40 of the buildings by today. For the participating buildings and their tenants, the idea is to track power use in detail and determine ways to reduce it with the help of Davis team. Duke hopes to eventually be able to reduce power consumption uptown by balancing demand among the various buildings, but that is not part of the initial effort. Duke, Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and the city of Charlotte all agreed from the outset to participate in the program. Davis group has targeted 69 uptown buildings representing more than 20 million square feet of space as potential participants. Duke had hoped to get at least 80% participation. But Davis says that rate is 96% and discussions continue with the remaining five large uptown buildings. He declines to name them. The Envision: Charlotte nonprofit was organized and registered in late summer, says its chairman, Tom Shircliff.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2011/10/28/envision-charlotte-energy.html

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Shircliff is co-founder of IntelligentBuildings, a Charlotte consulting firm. It does technology, energy and sustainability projects for tenants, owners and property managers of large corporate, commercial and institutional facilities. The nonprofit group comprises 51 individuals from 28 organizations uptown. The idea is to promote sustainability with a business mind-set, Shircliff says. The group will extend its efforts to include water use, air quality and waste. The basic idea of what Vince and his people have done is that you cant control what you cant measure, he says. We want to take that idea from the energy side and apply it more broadly. The nonprofit also gives Envision: Charlotte a platform beyond the corporate and civic partners involved in its founding. Shircliff says no specific fundraising targets or budgets have been developed for the nonprofit. It has five subcommittees working on those issues and trying to determine what tasks the group should undertake. It also will seek to collect and display information on sustainable issues beyond energy use in the participating buildings. The level of business involvement in this already makes a strong comment about Charlotte, Shircliff says, adding that more programs will be announced as they are developed. John Downey covers utilities, public companies and the courts for the Charlotte Business Journal.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2011/10/28/envision-charlotte-energy.html

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