New Englanders Keep Warm

Using Biodiesel Heating Fuel

Although the use of petroleum heating fuel has declined since the

1970s, more than 8 million households in the U.S. continue to use

heating oil to keep out winter’s chill, with more than three-quarters of

those users in the Northeast. Residential and commercial buildings consume

over 90 percent of distillate fuel oil in the region, according to the Energy

Information Administration. To reduce consumption of this fossil fuel, and its

associated air emissions, the public school system in Warwick, RI, is blending

heating oil with biodiesel, a domestically produced, renewable fuel.

Rhode Island may be the first state in the country to use a biodiesel blend

to heat schools, according to Robert Cerio, energy educator/manager for the

school district, a Rebuild America partnership.

Biodiesel, whose chemical name is methyl esters, is a fuel that is produced

by removing glycerin from vegetable oil. In the United States, the most

popular sources include soybean oil and recycled frying oil from restaurants.

(Corn oil is the most popular for ethanol.) Although soybeans contribute to

Continued on page 11

PARTNER UPDATE

Rebuild America

Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program DOE/EE-0289 • November – December 2003

Stark Public Housing

Saves on Natural Gas

via Group Purchasing

There is strength in numbers. 

The Stark Metropolitan Housing

Authority, a Rebuild America

partnership, is saving money on its

purchases of natural gas by buying as part 

of a group of seven Ohio public-housing

authorities.

“We’re a buying group that gets together

in a coalition or consortium so long as it’s

beneficial to public housing,” says Steve

Ewing, energy manager for the Stark

housing agency, based in Canton, the

largest city in Stark County.

There is proof in numbers, too. The Stark

housing agency has been using the

consortium to purchase gas from two

suppliers, Dominion and Columbia, and 

in each case the cost is well below the

supplier’s standard retail price or “gas

recovery rate.” With Dominion, Stark’s price

recently is $1.96 below the standard rate 

per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). In the case 

of Columbia, the Stark price is 49 cents per

Mcf below the gas recovery rate.

In This Issue

Peer Forum in Boston

Big Steps in Virginia

Microturbines and CHP

Profile: OSRAM SYLVANIA

ENERGY STAR Guidance

Bringing you a prosperous future where energy is clean, abundant, reliable, and affordable

Continued on page 2

3

4

6

8

9

A scientist at NREL conducts research on biofuels.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
agreed to gain efficiencies through working together on

energy audits; utility allowance preparations, referring to the

handling of allowances for subsidized utility payments by

residents; analysis and planning for low-cost and no-cost

energy-efficiency improvements; energy management and

bill paying in general; weatherization; financing; training of

staff; education of residents.

In addition to all of that, there can be outreach from the

housing agencies to other institutions, businesses and

individuals in their counties. “We can all work together to

provide a better community,” Ewing says.

Stark can contribute technical expertise to the

consortium’s plans partly because of its connections to

Rebuild America and the Ohio Department of Development’s

Office of Energy Efficiency. In the state energy office, Manny

Anunike serves as Rebuild America’s state representative and

a valued adviser to the Stark and Lucas partnerships.

Phaaco is about two and a half years old now.

Representatives of the seven members of the group have

been getting together twice a year but hope to shift to a

quarterly meeting schedule. Participating officials in the

group usually are selected by the executive directors of their

housing authorities.

For more information, contact Steve Ewing at Stark

Metropolitan Housing, 330-454-8051, email

info@starkmha.org.

2 PARTNER UPDATE • November – December 2003

Public Housing Authority Aggregation Consortium of

Ohio (Phaaco), the buyers group, includes metropolitan

housing authorities of Stark, Cleveland, Lorain, Lucas,

Harrison County, Portage and Zanesville. The Lucas

Metropolitan Housing Authority also is a Rebuild America

partnership, and the other five authorities have been

encouraged to join the program.

The group locks in the favorable prices for 70 percent of

the gas that the Stark Metropolitan Housing needs.

Gas prices are negotiated for Phaaco by a broker, Energy

Cooperative of Ohio. The broker promises that if the gas

recovery rate of a utility drops below the negotiated price for

Phaaco, the broker will make up the difference from funds it

otherwise would distribute to its owners. Phaaco, a member

of the nonprofit cooperative broker, is one of the owners.

The housing agencies can take an additional bite out of

gas purchase prices because they are tax-exempt groups.

The unity of seven agencies of varying sizes allows each to

be equally significant in the minds of the broker and the gas

suppliers. “Most brokers look for a certain amount of load,”

notes Ewing. “If you’re below that size, they do not actively

look for you as a customer.”

Energy Cooperative of Ohio now is willing to serve as

broker for individuals – housing agency employees and

others – who might want to join the Phaaco buyers group.

Phaaco’s members look forward to doing more than

buying gas together. The next obvious step is to apply the

lessons to another energy commodity. “We anticipate being

able to buy electricity together,” Ewing says.

Phaaco also is encouraging other public housing

authorities (PHAs) to join.

“We are trying to involve PHAs inside and outside Ohio,”

Ewing says. “We would love to have others participate.”

Other plans are not as obvious. The seven agencies have

Stark Gas

continued from page 1 Stark

Metropolitan

Housing’s Cherrie

Turner Towers

ENERGY SMART AMERICA 2004

TOOLS AND SOLUTIONS FOR STATES AND COMMUNITIES

MAY 11-14, 2004

Minneapolis Hilton • Minneapolis, Minnesota • www.energysmartamerica.org

SAVE THE DATE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Boston Forum Provides

Tools, Ideas, Answers

Representatives from all seven states in the Boston

Region met Nov. 5-6 to strengthen their skills for

implementing the Rebuild America Program. The

meeting, in Boston, focused on three goals for state

representatives: to understand their role and the role of

others in the Rebuild America team; to know the resources

available through the national program and where to access

those tools; and to network with peers.

Of the 20 state and local representatives in attendance, 

14 were new to the program since the last forum, held in

December 2001. The new representatives include Shirley

Bartlett (ME); Lori Clark, Sharon Griffith, Joseph Barry,

Rodger Smith, Patrice Courtney, Jessica Barry, Dean Zias, 

Ann Heidenreich, Lynn Cebula and Iris LaLuz (NY); Gary

O’Connell (NH); and Erin Bralich and Andy Perchlik (VT).

Attendees took away a vibrant flavor of the Rebuild

America program and how it fits in with other programs in

the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The two-day meeting

was an invaluable introduction to the program for new

representatives and a useful update for others. Boston

Regional Team Lead Greg Davoren, along with program

coordinator Cyane Dandridge, presented the state

representatives with tools and resources to initiate projects,

carry them through and measure results.

Participants were asked to offer concerns and questions

about their deployment of Rebuild America, which were

then addressed throughout the meeting. 

Kim Lundgren, from the City of Medford (MA)

partnership, spoke on “Making a City Energy Efficient.” 

A presentation on grant opportunities addressed funding

concerns voiced by attendees. Ken Liss, of Associated Grant

Makers, offered a list of resources for grant research. 

Representatives from New Hampshire and Rhode Island

addressed pressing issues of schools. Robert Cerio, energy

manager for Warwick (RI) Public Schools, discussed the need

for weather-sensitive software to accurately measure energy

savings, especially in the Northeast. 

John Ruckes, state representative for Connecticut, ended

the forum with a presentation on integration between

Rebuild America and complimentary DOE and state

activities. One of the projects that jump-started Ruckes’

involvement in Rebuild America was a combined indoor airquality and energy-efficiency solution to an asthma problem

in New Haven Schools. Ruckes continues to take combinedprogram approaches to partnership projects.

For more information, presentations from the Boston

Regional Peer Forum are posted at www.rebuild.org/events/

eventdetails.asp?NewsID=1868.

November – December 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 3

During a year of high energy prices and dragged-out

wrangling over energy legislation, the Rebuild

America program quietly did what was needed to

spread energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings.

The program’s network of community partnerships proved

the merits of its technologies and methods of operation by

saving a great deal of energy and money.

The annual results have arrived earlier this year, because we

have shifted to reporting a fiscal cycle rather than a calendar

cycle. That change makes the numbers look a little less

striking in year-to-year comparisons, because we did not work

in a full 12 months between the last annual tally and this

one. The 2003 results need to be measured against 75 percent

of the calendar 2002 results for an apples-to-apples

comparison. The results are impressive, either way.

The work of our partnerships is saving about 11.8 trillion

Btu annually, or about $142 million. That is energy and

money in the bank for when we truly need them. Less energy

waste also means less pollution. If estimated in terms of

electricity consumption, that Btu reduction averts the release

of 4,353 metric tons of sulfur dioxide and 2,049 metric tons

of nitrogen oxides each year – while preventing emissions of

almost 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

The Rebuild America network also has achieved an

exceptional bang for the buck. For every federal dollar invested,

we have stimulated $11.07 in private energy-efficiency

investment and saved energy worth $19.85. That’s leverage.

We are getting the work done almost too quietly. Within our

network are many community champions, local officials, state

energy officials, business managers, association officials,

engineers and others who are achieving more than the public

realizes. Those partners deserve all the credit in the world.

So take a deep breath, relax a moment, and prepare to

accomplish more. The point of the whole effort is to overcome

market barriers to the best technologies and practices for

energy efficiency and renewable energy. As people realize how

much they can save, we will see a widening disconnect

between economic growth and energy consumption – the

economy steaming ahead while energy use is restrained.

In fact, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on

what indicators can be taken as a sign of success – what market

shares or energy consumption plateaus or other market signals

would tell us that we have done as much as we need to do for

one market and it’s time to move on to the next.

Dan Sze is National Program Manager of Rebuild America. Your

comments are always welcome at danielsze@rebuild.org.

View From DC 

by Daniel Sze
From left: SEI’s Mildred Dandridge, teacher Laura Honda, DOE’s Paul Johnson,

adviser Brian Prusnek, SEI’s Cyane Dandridge

Two Awards for School

The Alliance to Save Energy (Alliance) and ABB Inc.

recently presented Manor Elementary School, of

Fairfax, CA, with two awards recognizing the school’s

energy-saving activities. 

The Alliance presented Earth Apple awards to the school –

one in the elementary school category and a second,

“Golden Apple,” for best overall K-12 school, a first for an

elementary school. The awards recognize K-12 schools that

teach energy education to their students while also engaging

them in energy-saving activities.

Manor Elementary joined six other schools honored at a

ceremony during the Alliance’s Associates Summit on Energy

Efficiency in Washington, DC. Winners included schools

from California, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida. Several

4 PARTNER UPDATE • November – December 2003

Fairfax County Schools Phase In Energy Upgrades

F

airfax County Public Schools (FCPS), educating

164,000 students in a Northern Virginia suburb, is

improving its facilities by implementing energy

performance contracts in successive phases. The projects will

help this Rebuild America partnership reduce its energy

costs, which currently run about $28 million annually.

According to Thomas Brady, the school district’s chief

operating officer, FCPS learned of energy performance

contracts from other school districts. After doing its

homework on the contracts – which fund building

improvements through future utility savings – the school

district decided to give it a try. Rebuild America provided

assistance when school officials were drafting a request for

proposals (RFP) for energy services.

The school district awarded an energy performance

contract to NORESCO L.L.C. last fall to implement energysmart improvements. A subsidiary of Equitable Resources,

NORESCO is a Rebuild America Business Partner.

“Energy performance contracts are one good way to use

an existing operations budget to fund capital improvements

that otherwise wouldn’t happen,” notes NORESCO’s Randy

Clark. By being an early adopter of such contracts, FCPS is at

the forefront of school districts in the state, adds Clark.

Big Step by Step

A lighting retrofit and window replacement at 14 schools

was completed under Bundle No. 1 of the contract.

Upgraded building controls are still being installed as part of

the $5.9 million investment. Savings for these components

are expected to reach $678,000 annually, says Tom Reinsel,

the school system’s project manager for the FCPS contract. 

The second phase of the energy performance contract,

approved in May, is in progress at seven schools. Bundle No.

2 focuses on lighting improvements, energy management

systems and controls, and boiler tune-ups. The scope of this

phase is limited to improvements with payback periods of 8

years or less, because the schools are

likely to be renovated within a

decade. The $1.5 million

improvements are expected to be

finished by 2004, resulting in energy

savings of $233,000 annually.

This fall, the FCPS board approved an expansion of the

energy performance contract. The third phase will result in

an additional $5.6 million in improvements for 19 schools

and one administrative center. Boiler tune-ups, energyefficient lighting, occupancy sensors, energy management

systems and building controls are planned. Windows will be

replaced at five schools, and an electric boiler at one school

will be replaced with a high-efficiency gas-fired boiler.

Improvements under Bundle No. 3 will save approximately

$616,000 each year.

The $13 million in capital improvements under the three

phases are projected to produce $1.5 million in annual

energy cost savings for the school district.

schools from Serbia were also among the recipients. 

Honorable mention award winners included Greenway

Elementary School, of the Marion County (FL) Public School

system, and Atlantic Elementary, part of Brevard County (FL)
The $13 million in capital improvements under the three

phases are projected to produce $1.5 million in annual

energy cost savings for the school district. The projects will

affect 40 schools and one administrative center.

However, 100 schools have been identified for future

improvements. The school district is now exploring a fourth

phase, which could begin as early as January 2004.

To ensure that class time will not be interrupted,

improvements are being installed during evenings, weekends

and holidays. Brady compliments NORESCO for

accommodating the school district’s schedule.

Information and Advice

FCPS, the largest school district in Virginia and one of the

largest in the country, joined Rebuild America in July 2001

to reduce utility bills while improving the learning

November – December 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 5

Additional Energy Savings

Outside of the energy performance contract, Fairfax County Public

Schools (FCPS) is making strides in saving energy. Herndon High

School implemented a program to reduce energy consumed by

computer monitors. Over 800 computers were adapted with

EnergyStar® technology to put the monitors in “sleep” mode when

not in use. The school’s computer monitor power management

program, known as “Sleep is Good,” cuts energy costs for each

monitor by $11 annually. 

FCPS was honored for this effort with a certificate of recognition

from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year. With

the success of the Herndon High School initiative, FCPS proceeded to

install the EZ-Save Monitor Power Management software on 70,000

computers district-wide. 

The school district is also participating in the ENERGY STAR Label for

Buildings program that benchmarks energy performance and

recognizes buildings that are the most energy efficient. Numerous

projects – currently in the planning stages – take into account LEED

(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building

Rating SystemTM guidelines.

Additionally, FCPS consolidated multiple meters at a high school

into one for the electric bill. Although there will be a low charge from

the power company to make this switch, plus a monthly fee, the

school district is expected to save around $20,000 a year.

Public Schools. Both school districts are Rebuild America

partnerships.

Manor Elementary School is part of the Ross Valley School

District in Marin County, north of San Francisco. Marin

County is a Rebuild America partnership, and all schools in

the county are part of the partnership.

The school is a member of the San Francisco Bay Area

Green Schools Project, led by Strategic Energy Innovations

(SEI). The project is part of the Alliance’s Green Schools

Project, an international program that aims to reduce energy

use in K-12 schools by teaching students about energy and

energy efficiency. Through the Green Schools Project,

students help reduce energy use at their schools and often

share their knowledge with their families and communities.

Students in Laura Honda’s fourth-grade class at Manor

Elementary learn about energy and environmental issues

each week. The students share their knowledge with their

schoolmates, teachers, parents and community.

To encourage energy efficiency in the surrounding

community, students sell compact fluorescent light bulbs at

no profit. Over 600 of the bulbs have been sold, which will

replace energy-wasting incandescent light bulbs.

The students are also practicing what they preach by

turning off lights and computers in unoccupied rooms

throughout the school. From March 2002 to March 2003,

the students helped the school reduce electricity

consumption by 16 percent, saving over $4,000. Only

schools that calculate and report savings are eligible for the

Golden Apple award.

After the Ross Valley School District proposed installing air

conditioning in Manor Elementary School, the students

organized a campaign to choose energy-saving alternatives.

The school has chosen not to use the cooling equipment,

but instead will utilize natural ventilation. 

For more information on Manor Elementary School,

contact Mildred Dandridge, SEI, at 415-507-2183.

environment. Brady explains that Rebuild America has been

a good source of information for the school district.

To keep the community informed about the energyefficiency projects, FCPS created a Web page,

www.fcps.k12.va.us/fts/energysavings/, which answers

common questions about energy performance contracts and

outlines the school district’s energy-saving efforts.

Brady, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, offers some advice to

other schools looking at energy-saving projects or energy

performance contracts: “There’s a saying in the military:

crawl, walk, run. Don’t leap into projects – do your

research.” He suggests using RFPs for energy performance

contracts, and to remember that these partnerships are long

term. It’s important to feel comfortable with the project, 

he says.

For more information, contact Tom Reinsel at

tom.reinsel@fcps.edu.
6 PARTNER UPDATE • November – December 2003

Distributed generation and energy efficiency 

come together when gas-fired microturbines are

installed in the multiple-use design known as

combined heat and power (CHP).

On-site power generation has two obvious advantages –

lower utility power bills and reduced vulnerability to

blackouts or brownouts. The primary drawback always has

been economics – the cost of installing and maintaining a

separate technology that often lacks energy efficiency. Other

drawbacks include the unproven nature of some

technologies, such as fuel cells, and the air pollution of other

generators, such as the old-fashioned diesel-burning

reciprocating engine.

But when the highly efficient

concept of CHP is linked with

small turbines burning natural

gas, one innovative source of

distributed generation may

finally move from the

innovative novelty category to the list of pragmatic energy

sources for Rebuild America projects.

“Most of the projects going in with microturbines are

CHP,” says Debbie Haught, manager of the Microturbines

Program in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). “That

really is the direction everyone is going.”

Her program, a unit of the Office of Distributed Energy

Resources within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy (EERE), has demonstration projects going

on in grocery stores, hotels and other sites around the

country. 

The general estimate is that energy efficiency can be raised

to the 70-80 percent range when microturbines are used in

CHP arrangements – up from a typical level of about 28

percent for a microturbine without heat recovery.

Canton Shows the Way

In a swimming pool facility in Canton, Ohio, two

microturbines with a total generating capacity of 56

kilowatts (kW) are providing the facility with electrical

power. At the same time, the exhaust gases from the turbines

heat pool water and help drive the building’s air

conditioning system.

Electric utility FirstEnergy installed and is monitoring the

system while working with Canton City Schools, the Ohio

Department of Development and area businesses. The $7

million, two-year demonstration project was financed in part

by EERE and the National Association of State Energy

Officials (NASEO, a Rebuild America Strategic Partner), along

with the energy offices and research institutions of four

other states.

The energy efficiency of the Canton turbines is

approximately 70 percent, says Joe Waligorski, project

manager at FirstEnergy for the installation. While heating

pool water, the microturbines also allow the school system

to avoid cranking up a boiler in an adjacent building solely

for heating the pool during the summer. “There were

inefficiencies in that,” Waligorski points out.

At the same time, the microturbine exhaust gases provide

heat to an ammonia-based chiller for the swimming facility’s

air conditioning. 

Within the chiller, ammonia dissolved in water is

vaporized by the exhaust gases, and the ammonia vapor

carries heat away from the water. That chills the water for

use in cooling the building’s air. The vaporized ammonia

releases energy to the atmosphere from a heat exchanger,

TECHNOLOGY

Combined Heat and Power with Gas Microturbine

Provides Increasingly Practical On-Site Energy

Microturbines are power generators fired by natural gas.

“Most of the projects going in with microturbines are 

CHP. That really is the direction everyone is going.”
mission – to contribute to the development of integrated

systems that, as Haught puts it, “take the engineering away

from the site.”

Manufacturers are working toward the same goal.

According to Distributed Energy Resources, several U.S.

companies are developing “ready to go” modular packaged

systems to reduce system costs, improve overall energy

efficiency and reduce operating and maintenance costs.

Capstone, for example, announced in October the first

two installations of its new integrated CHP product, the

C60-ICHP. The two units went into operation Oct. 24 at the

Radisson Hotel in Santa Maria, CA. They can provide 120

kW of power while also serving the hotel’s water-heating

needs.

Another innovation: microturbines, CHP and landfill gases

all used together. At a cleaned-up former Superfund site, the

H.O.D. Landfill in Antioch, IL, extracted landfill gases are fed

into a dozen Capstone microturbines to provide heat and

power to the adjacent Antioch Community High School.

For more information, visit the Web site of Distributed

Energy Resources at www.eere.energy.gov/der/, which also

has links to the appropriate ORNL offices; and Capstone

Turbine, www.microturbine.com, where many case studies

(including Faith Plating) are posted.

November – December 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 7

then cools, condenses and dissolves back into the water to

absorb more heat.

Industrial facilities have many uses for heat and can face

tough regulations governing conventional boilers. Dominant

U.S. microturbine manufacturer Capstone Turbine has

supplied a set of four 30 kW microturbines in a CHP setup

that is saving a California metal plating company more than

$57,000 a year. The project, at Faith Plating in Hollywood,

cost less than $200,000 and has a simple payback period of

four years. The turbines’ exhaust keeps water hot in plating

tanks and dries sludge to shrink the weight and volume of

the sludge before disposal.

The Office of Distributed Energy Resources and Oak Ridge

National Laboratory (ORNL) worked with that retrofit to

make it a demonstration project for the technologies.

Packaged Systems

EERE’s Haught and others say the economics of

microturbines in CHP setups will work best if sold as

packaged systems, because their elements will be designed

for the best fit with each other and the least installation

costs. 

Distributed Energy Resources has made that a part of its

Microturbines provide electricity and heat for on-site energy.

Capstone Turbine Corp.
8 PARTNER UPDATE • November – December 2003

BUSINESS PARTNER

OSRAM SYLVANIA

Plugs in the New Tech

L

ighting solutions provider OSRAM SYLVANIA has

become one of the more active Business Partners in

the Rebuild America program thanks to the energy and

expertise it brings to program activities, such as hosting

technology seminars.

Behind the expertise is a corporate culture that fosters

research and innovation. Parent company OSRAM GmbH,

part of the Siemens family of global businesses, promotes

and rewards innovation in all of its subsidiaries, including

OSRAM SYLVANIA, its North American operation. 

As a frequent participant in Rebuild America technology

seminars, OSRAM SYLVANIA offers a broad range of

technology and lighting solutions, including fluorescent,

halogen, metal halide and solid-state lighting systems

manufactured and sold under both the SYLVANIA and

OSRAM brand names.

Energy-Saving Fluorescents

SYLVANIA offers extensive lines of T-8 and T-5 fluorescent

lamps but also produces its own energy-efficient electronic

control systems, such as the PROStart programmed-start

ballasts that are incorporated into the SYLVANIA

QUICKTRONIC product line.

These programmed-start electronic ballasts have

microcontroller-based circuitry that applies a precise amount

of cathode heat prior to starting the lamp. This ensures that

the cathodes reach optimum temperature before the lamp is

started. Once the lamp is lighted, the ballast reduces the

cathode heat to the optimum level to assure long lamp life –

and reduced heat translates into energy savings.

Innovative Fluorescents

The ICETRON product line employs another technology

that sets SYLVANIA apart – electrodeless fluorescence. A

ferrite coil emits a magnetic field that induces a current

inside the lamp, where a gas discharge excites the phosphor

coating to produce light. 

The electrodes in a conventional fluorescent lamp are one

of the factors that limit a lamp’s life (typically about 20,000

hours or about five years). ICETRON lamps have a rated life

of 100,000 hours, or about 25 years for a 10-hour daily cycle. 

Improved Halogens

All halogen lamps, like incandescent lamps, produce a

significant amount of infrared energy, most of which is

given off as waste heat. OSRAM SYLVANIA found a way to

reduce that waste and produce a more efficient lamp in the

SYLVANIA CAPSYLITE IR family of lamps. These light sources

are manufactured with a multilayered coating on the

tungsten halogen capsule to reflect infrared energy back to

the filament. Because of that energy “recycling,” less

electrical energy is required to maintain the filament at its

optimal operating temperature.

Efficient Metal Halide

OSRAM SYLVANIA has been pushing the technology of

metal halide lighting with its METALARC product line,

combined with “pulse-start” technology. The idea is to start

a lamp in such a way that produces less evaporation of

tungsten. That means less darkening of the arc tube, which

translates into improved lumen maintenance. This pulsestart technology translates into energy savings of as much as

20 percent in comparison to conventional metal halide

systems.

A Solid State Leader

OSRAM has set up a separate technology developer,

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, which focuses on the rich

possibilities of solid-state lighting in the form of lightemitting diodes (LEDs). 

Some of the largest markets for LED technology are traffic

signals and internally illuminated commercial signage. Other

markets awaiting strong LED growth include architectural

lighting, such as hallway lights, and task lighting, such as

desk lamps. 

OSRAM is a leader in developing thin-film technology,

which gets more light out of the chip and dramatically

improves LED efficiency. The company also is a pioneer in

LED systems, offering preconfigured modules and arrays

matched with power supplies and controllers.

For more information about OSRAM SYLVANIA, visit its

Business Partner entry at www.rebuild.gov or visit the

company at www.sylvania.com. For OSRAM Opto

Semiconductors, visit www.osram-os.com.
Let ENERGY STAR Help

Develop Your Project

By Donald Gilligan and Scott Serota, Predicate LLC

The Energy Star® for Buildings program can help

Rebuild America program representatives, Business

Partners and facility managers overcome a number 

of common marketing challenges, including:

Long project sales cycles, typically 12-18 months, when

the energy service provider struggles to establish project 

buy-in and the customer struggles to sell the need for 

a project to decision-makers in the organization.

Complex project financing – blending leases, utility

incentives, customer capital funds and state subsidies for

public building construction – which customers have

difficulty understanding.

No recognition for customers, particularly in the public

sector, who take the risk of sponsoring energy-efficiency

projects.

Difficulty converting short-term project objectives into

long-term portfolio management relationships with

customers.

ENERGY STAR for

Buildings

The U.S. Department of

Energy (DOE) and the U.S.

Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) want to help

facility managers and

energy service companies

(ESCOs) address these

challenges, because the

commercial and institutional buildings that host many ESCO

projects consume about 16 percent of total U.S. energy, are

responsible for about 18 percent of U.S. pollution, and on

average waste about 30 percent of the energy they use. 

ENERGY STAR began as an EPA program that for many

products has become a joint program with DOE. It also is a

Rebuild America Strategic Partner. The ENERGY STAR for

Buildings program is modeled after the successful car and

appliance rating systems. The idea is to promote building

energy efficiency by applying ENERGY STAR performance

ratings to many commercial and institutional buildings.

ENERGY STAR offers free software that can be used to address

these challenges.

Portfolio Manager reinforces ESCO credibility by

November – December 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 9

comparing a building’s energy use against similar buildings

in a geographic region, generating a building performance

rating of 1 to 100. That can reinforce the ESCO’s claim that

a building needs substantial improvements. The customer

can confirm the rating on the ENERGY STAR Web site, and use

it to persuade decision-makers that an energy-efficiency

project is necessary. 

Cash Flow Opportunity Calculator simplifies complex

project financing, allowing a customer to understand the

value of improvements that can be purchased with a project

savings stream, the trade-offs between various financing

vehicles, and the cost of project delays.

ENERGY STAR for Buildings publicizes successful projects,

offering recognition opportunities ranging from the ENERGY

STAR label for buildings to annual awards for the best

projects and partners in the country.

Portfolio Manager helps an ESCO establish a long-term

relationship with a customer by quickly rating all of the

customer’s buildings and developing with the customer a

long-term portfolio management and investment strategy.

Green Lights and More

Most ESCOs and many Rebuild America Business Partners

participated in an earlier EPA program to push energy

efficiency in buildings – the Green Lights program. The

ENERGY STAR for Buildings program grew from that model:

service providers become ENERGY STAR Partners, use speciallydesigned tools to help sell projects and benefit from DOE

and EPA efforts to push the building market to embrace

ENERGY STAR standards.

While Green Lights promoted a single technology, ENERGY

STAR for Buildings promotes whole building energy-efficiency

improvements, integrated into a portfolio approach that

encourages customers to aggressively improve the efficiency

of their entire stock of buildings.

Teamwork

Getting started in the ENERGY STAR for Buildings program is

very easy. The National Association of Energy Service

Companies (NAESCO) works with DOE and EPA to promote

ENERGY STAR to ESCOs, so you can contact us directly to learn

about trying Portfolio Manager on some of your projects. We

can arrange a customized training session for your staff and

show you how to upload your project data files into

Portfolio Manager. 

Gilligan and Serota are working with ENERGY STAR on

behalf of NAESCO to provide industry input to the

development and dissemination of the software. For more

information, contact Serota at 781-784-2943, email

serota@comcast.net, or visit www.energystar.gov.
Upcoming Events

January

13-14 DOE Seattle Region Rebuild America Peer

Forum, Radisson Resort and Spa, Scottsdale, AZ.

Contact Sherry Sykes at 252-459-6300 or email

ssykes@aspensys.com. 

15 Energy Technology Seminar: Motor, Drives

& Transformers, presented by Rebuild America

and Arlington County government. NRECA

Conference Center, Arlington, VA. Contact John

Morrill, CEM, at 703-228-4426 or email

jmorrill@co.arlington.va.us.

15 Advanced School Design and Technologies

for Hot and Dry Climate Zones, presented by

Rebuild America, Arizona Dept. of Commerce

Energy Office and Ameresco. Arizona State

University – Downtown Center, Phoenix, AZ.

Contact Gloria Castro at 602-771-1143 or email

gloriac@azcommerce.com. 

16-17 CEFPI’s 2nd Annual High Performance

Schools Symposium, Pointe South Mountain

Resort, Phoenix, AZ. Visit

www.cefpi.org/green2004/index.html.

27 High Performance School Buildings

Seminar, presented by Rebuild America, Rebuild

Sarasota County and Lithonia Lighting. Manatee

Community College Center for Innovation and

Technology, Sarasota, FL. Contact Nina Powers 

at 941-861-1463 or email npowers@scgov.net. 

February

4-5 Greening the Hospitality Industry, 

Airle Conference Center, Warrenton, VA. 

Call 804-360-1500 or email 

mmalloy@convention-connections.com.

11-12 Active Physics – Light Up My Life Teacher

Training Workshop, Little Rock, AR. Contact

Markey Ford, Arkansas Energy Office, at 501-682-

7690 or email mford@1800Arkansas.com.

10 PARTNER UPDATE • November – December 2003

Web Site Update

Advanced search options were recently added to the

Rebuild America Web site for locating Business

Partner products and services and Solution Center

resources.

Business Partners are constantly updating and adding

services to help partnerships start and complete building

projects. Now Rebuild America program participants can

search for Business Partners that work within a specific

product type (such as lighting), service type (such as facility

management), market sector or by location.

There are more than 200 resources currently in the Web

site’s Solution Center, and they can be searched by building

process, market sector and technical level. 

Recent additions to the Solution Center resources are:

Travel and Environmental Implications of School

Siting

This report, in PDF format, was released Oct. 8, 2003, by

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is the first

study to empirically examine the relationship between

school locations, the built environment around schools, how

kids get to school and the impact on air emissions of those

travel choices. Over the next few decades, communities

making decisions about the construction and renovation of

thousands of schools will be challenged to meet multiple

goals – educational, fiscal, and environmental. 

ASDBC Energy Efficiency Guide for Small Business

This guide, in PDF format, is for saving energy and dollars

in small businesses. The Association of Small Business

Development Centers (ASBDC), a Rebuild America Strategic

Partner, worked on creating this 48-page guide. It covers:

who benefits from energy efficiency; why energy efficiency is

smart business; how to take advantage of new energy-saving

techniques and products; how to calculate simple payback

for your energy investments.

2003 School Construction Report

Based on School Construction Alert surveys, this year’s

School Construction Report provides estimates on

construction completed in 2002, construction projected to

be completed in 2003 and projects identified as starting in

2003. It is a 16-page PDF document. It reports that more

school construction was put in place in the United States in

2002 than in any other year in history. Altogether, projects

estimated to have cost $21.6 billion were completed in 2002.

The previous high for a single year occurred in 2000, when

projects costing $21.1 billion were completed.

Energy Quest’s Resources for Teachers and Parents

In this section of the Web site of the California Energy

Commission, parents and teachers will find various energy

and environmental educational materials and resources.

Visit the Events page in the Rebuild America Web site to read

about or post other events. You can also keep up on events and

provide event listings through the Flash Report, with subscriptions

available via the Web site’s News page.
November – December 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 11

• Chattanooga Housing Authority, TN

• City of Pleasanton, CA

• Corvallis School District 509J, OR

• ICF Associates Inc., CA

• Salem-Keizer School District, OR

• Sonoma County Climate Protection Campaign, CA

New Partnerships

the nation’s food supply – cooking oil, veggie burgers and

more – there is a surplus. 

Biodiesel can be used in its pure form but is primarily

blended with other fuels, such as petroleum diesel. Biodiesel

blends are most commonly used for transportation fuel in

school buses and government vehicle fleets.

Warwick’s Blend

With support from Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian and

school system Superintendent Robert Shapiro, Cerio tested

three blends of petroleum heating oil and biodiesel fuel to

heat three schools in 2001. A fourth school used heating oil

alone, serving as the control group. The project was

supported by the Rhode Island State Energy Office, the

Northeast Regional Biomass Program and DOE’s National

Renewable Energy Laboratory.

After using different mixtures of heating oil and biodiesel,

Cerio determined that a blend of 80 percent distillate fuel oil

and 20 percent biodiesel was the best combination for the

school district’s equipment. The fuel, known as B20, burned

more efficiently and produced less harmful emissions than

heating oil alone. Other advantages of B20 are that no

equipment modification is necessary to burn the fuel, and it

has a Btu content similar to heating oil. The school district

now burns B20 in the heating system at one school.

Bacharach Inc. tests for efficiency and emissions every

month. By switching to B20, the school is reducing carbon

dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

Because biodiesel does not contain sulfur, the use of B20

results in a 20 percent reduction in sulfur discharge. 

With distillate heating oil, the maintenance personnel had

to clean the heating equipment every year due to soot

buildup from the sulfur. Since using biodiesel, soot buildup

is no longer a problem, which reduces maintenance time

and costs. In addition, there has been no need to change

filters yet since switching to the biodiesel blend.

Warwick Public Schools buys its biodiesel from World

Energy Alternatives, in Chelsea, MA. The fuel, processed in

Florida, comes from soybeans grown in various locations

throughout the U.S. Cerio blends it on site with heating oil.

Although there are no commercial-scale production facilities

for biodiesel in the region, Cerio says Rhode Island could

produce up to 3 million gallons of biodiesel annually by

reprocessing waste oil from the food service industry within

southern New England. 

The school district purchases heating oil futures to keep 

its distillate fuel costs down to around 80 cents per gallon.

Biodiesel

continued from page 1

Number of Partnerships:

572

Total Number of Committed or 

Completed Square Feet:

1,240,201,043

as of November 26, 2003 

Rebuild America Progress Calculator

Blending biodiesel adds 7 cents per gallon to the final cost, 

a good buy for the environmental benefits and reduced

maintenance, says Cerio.

Maine Tries It

Farther north, in Maine, the state government announced

it will use B20 in four or five state buildings this winter. The

state recently ran a test on one of the boilers, producing

positive results.

The use of biodiesel is part of Gov. John Baldacci’s

commitment to advance Maine as a leader in the use of

renewable energy, explains Beth Nagusky, the state’s director

of energy independence. The state supports the use of the

fuel because it is domestically produced, renewable and

produces fewer harmful emissions than petroleum heating

oil. Nagusky says she even used a biodiesel blend to heat her

home last winter.

Back in Rhode Island, Warwick Public School’s three-year

program of using biodiesel blends for heating ends next

March. Cerio hopes to continue the project by expanding

the use of B20 from one building to 13. “It’s been a really big

success for us,” he says. The school district also began using

a B5 blend in its fleet of 70 school buses earlier this year,

with support from DOE’s Clean Cities program. 

“Biodiesel creates jobs on the production end, supports

farmers and is totally organic,” says Cerio. “It’s a win-win for

the environment and the economy.”

For more information, contact Robert Cerio, at

cerior@wpsadmin.org or visit the National Biodiesel Board’s

Web site, www.biodiesel.org.
REBUILD AMERICA 

Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20585-0121

Address Correction Requested

Rebuild America is a network

of partnerships – focused 

on communities – that save

money by saving energy.

These voluntary partnerships choose to improve

the quality of life in their communities through

energy efficiency. Rebuild America supports them

with customized assistance backed by technical and

business experts and resources.

Published bimonthly by the U.S. Department 

of Energy, Partner Update also incorporates news 

of other programs within the Office of Energy

Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Newsletter contact: 

Alan Kovski, 202-466-7391 or akovski@pcgpr.com. 

To subscribe: 

rebuildorders@rebuild.org or 252-459-4664.

Energy efficiency and clean, renewable

energy will mean a stronger economy, a

cleaner environment, and greater energy

independence for America. By investing in

technology breakthroughs today, our nation

can look forward to a more resilient

economy and secure future. 

Far-reaching technology changes will be

essential to America's energy future.

Working with a wide array of state,

community, industry, and university

partners, the U.S. Department of Energy's

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy invests in a portfolio of energy

technologies that will:

• Conserve energy in the residential,

commercial, industrial, government,

and transportation sectors 

• Increase and diversify energy supply,

with a focus on renewable domestic

sources 

• Upgrade our national energy

infrastructure 

• Facilitate the emergence of hydrogen

technologies as a vital new “energy

carrier.” 

The Opportunities

Biomass Program

Using domestic, plant-derived resources to

meet our fuel, power, and chemical needs

Building Technologies Program

Homes, schools, and businesses that use

less energy, cost less to operate, and

ultimately, generate as much power as 

they use

Distributed Energy & Electric Reliability

Program

A more reliable energy infrastructure and

reduced need for new power plants

Federal Energy Management Program

Leading by example, saving energy and

taxpayer dollars in federal facilities 

FreedomCAR & Vehicle Technologies

Program

Less dependence on foreign oil, and

eventual transition to an emissions-free,

petroleum-free vehicle

Geothermal Technologies Program

Tapping the earth's energy to meet our heat

and power needs

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure

Technologies Program

Paving the way toward a hydrogen

economy and net-zero carbon energy future

Industrial Technologies Program

Boosting the productivity and

competitiveness of U.S. industry through

improvements in energy and environmental

performance

Solar Energy Technology Program

Utilizing the sun's natural energy to

generate electricity and provide water 

and space heating 

Weatherization & Intergovernmental

Program

Accelerating the use of today's best energyefficient and renewable technologies in

homes, communities, and businesses 

Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program

Harnessing America's abundant natural

resources for clean power generation

To learn more, visit www.eere.energy.gov

Marketing and Communications Rebuild America Help Line 202-466-7868

Check Us Out At: www.rebuild.gov or 252-459-4664

A Strong Energy Portfolio for a Strong America