Tennessee Prison System

Gets Tough on Energy Waste

Tennessee is becoming a leader in energy efficiency for correctional

institutions, one reason why their recent energy technical seminar

was well attended despite icy conditions that paralyzed the region.

The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is working to reduce energy

and water costs in the state’s prison system through such simple steps as

weather-sealing windows and more complex upgrades including geothermal

installations. 

In 1998, TDOC saved $1.9 million in energy costs, significant savings for 

a system that now holds 18,000 incarcerated persons at a cost to the state 

of $47.63 per day for each inmate. TDOC expects additional savings through

more energy-efficiency upgrades and follows ENERGY STAR® guidelines.

Energy-efficiency projects at the Northeast Correctional Complex (NECX)

in Mountain City have resulted in considerable cost savings. Improvements

included a comprehensive lighting retrofit – in which eight-foot T-12

fluorescent lamps were replaced with more efficient four-foot T-8 fixtures –

and operational changes to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning

(HVAC) system.

Because the complex sits at an elevation of several thousand feet, there can

be a great difference between the daytime high temperature and the

nighttime low. To reduce energy costs, NECX established heating and cooling

seasons for HVAC operations. This prevents the facility from being airconditioned and heated on the same day.

According to facilities director Ronnie Henson, inmates previously

laundered their own clothes, using 30 washers and dryers in the individual

housing units. To reduce water and energy use, NECX centralized the

Continued on page 9

States can

find savings

in some

unusual

places,

including

behind bars. 

PARTNER UPDATE

Rebuild America

Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program DOE/EE-0277 • January – February 2003

Kentucky Partnership

Reaches Out 

to North Carolina

Peers

Rebuild Kentucky is serious about

educating school officials about

high-performance schools, even if it

means sending them on a field trip across

state lines.

“In Kentucky, there is a strong, driving

force to do everything we can to improve

our schools,” explains Greg Guess, program

manager, Kentucky Division of Energy.

The partnership – with the help of

Kentucky NEED (National Energy Education

Development Project), Rebuild America

program representative Charles Young, and

the North Carolina Department of

Administration’s State Energy Office –

organized a 10-person trip to North

Carolina so that Kentucky school officials

could see high-performance schools in use.

Guess says many school officials are

receptive to the idea of energy-efficient

schools but still need some convincing to

In This Issue

The virtues of commissioning

Ohio boosts public housing

A very mobile “classroom”

Wisconsin pushes markets

Oak Ridge rebuilds walls

A Strategic Partner with power

3

4

5

6

8

10

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

Continued on page 2
2 PARTNER UPDATE • January – February 2003

Partnership Reaches Out 

build one. He feels the best way to get them motivated to

build high-performance facilities is to show them these

schools.

Superintendents, private-sector architects, a school board

member, and an architect from the Kentucky Department of

Education participated in the trip. The U. S. Department of

Energy Atlanta Regional Office funded travel expenses for

two participants through its training and technical assistance

program.

The first stop on the tour was Wake County, one of the

fastest-growing counties in North Carolina. Jeri Preddy and

Christina Larkins, energy educators with the Wake County

Public School System, spoke about the school district’s

EnergySavers program, which is saving $400,000 in energy

costs each year. 

Although Wake County is building three to four new

schools annually, the school district strives for highperformance facilities. Air-conditioning expenses at one

Wake County school operating all year are 34 to 38 percent

less than a conventionally built school operating for only

nine months.

The use of natural light is a key element of the school

district’s plans for renovating and constructing schools.

Studies cited by Innovative Design – an architecture firm

that has worked with Wake County Public Schools –

demonstrate a correlation between natural light and better

student performance in math and science.

Mike Nicklas of Innovative Design continued the program

with a presentation on sustainable schools. He then led a

tour of The New School: Montessori Center for Children, in

Apex. The school is filled with natural light. Cloth baffles

diffuse the daylight to ensure uniform lighting conditions.

The group also visited Orange County to tour R.D. &

Euzelle P. Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill. The school,

designed by Corley Redfoot Zack Inc. in partnership with

Innovative Design, is a model of sustainability. Ken Redfoot,

architect with Corley Redfoot Zack, explained the innovative

features, including abundant use of natural light, a rainwater

collection system for recycling water, and a solar hot-water

heating system for the kitchen. A photovoltaic array powers

the lights above the school bus loading area while also

serving as a teaching tool.

After the tour, many of the participants who were on the

fence about high-performance schools were convinced to try

it. Guess credits the change to the participants’

conversations with the architects and the buildings’

occupants. “Peer-to-peer exchange is key,” he says.

Jyoti Sharma, director of facility planning for the Wake

County Public School System, and Ray Massey, the system’s

associate superintendent for auxiliary services,

provided tips for marketing high-performance

schools for the architects and school officials

to use upon returning to Kentucky.

As part of the follow-up to the tour, Rebuild

Kentucky is working with the Sustainable

Buildings Industry Council to present a

workshop on high-performance school buildings April 30 in

Georgetown, KY. The workshop will target school districts,

along with the architectural and mechanical design

communities. If the response is positive, they may organize

more workshops or plan another field trip.

Rebuild Kentucky’s goal is to convince the state’s school

districts to build showcase high-performance schools. If the

districts do so, Rebuild Kentucky and Rebuild America can

provide assistance in the design process, including technical

help, assistance with charettes, and plan review.

For more information contact Greg Guess at (502) 564-

7192 or gregory.guess@mail.state.ky.us.

After the tour, many of the participants who were 

on the fence about high-performance schools were

convinced to try it.

continued from page 1

Above, participants in

tour see how daylight

and fluorescent light

are used in Smith

Middle School media

center.

Kentuckians Mike

Fallin, John Bridges

and Greg Guess tour

Smith Middle School.
Commissioning Proofs

Buildings From Woes

Despite being largely misunderstood and

underutilized, building commissioning has

emerged as a valuable tool for ensuring optimum

performance of newly constructed or renovated buildings.

Many Rebuild America community partnerships are

employing the services of “commissioning authorities” to

help design and run efficient buildings. Commissioning

works with energy efficiency to assure more comfortable

buildings that incur lower energy costs.

“Commissioning is a great tool for owners of both new

and existing buildings who have issues such as energy,

comfort, life safety, and other operational problems,” says

Toby Benson of the Montana Department of Environmental

Quality.

While complicated in execution – it involves the complex

elements of a building’s systems – it is quite simple in

theory. Its purpose is to ensure that the building will run

smoothly, comfortably and efficiently.

Commissioning is the process of testing the performance

of a building’s interactive systems – heating, ventilation and

air conditioning units, controls, lighting, etc. – and, where

applicable, tweaking them to perform as designed.

If there is a downside, it is that commissioning can raise

the construction costs of a building by as much as 3 percent.

But commissioning is an investment. Buildings that do not

undergo commissioning incur 15 to 20 percent higher

operation and maintenance costs than those that do, on

average. Pay more now, save much more later.

As demonstrated by problems with comfort that were

discovered at the East Valley Middle School in East Helena,

MT, commissioning is often overlooked when a construction

project is finished. It was only as a result of later

commissioning – in response to complaints – that the

school’s problems were identified and fixed. (Partner Update,

November-December 2002, page 5.) Ignoring commissioning

can prove costly as energy bills skyrocket and those who

work or reside in the building are left uncomfortable.

Many Rebuild America Business Partners, such as 2RW

Consultants Inc. and Merit Energy Systems (a division of

Merit Engineering Inc.), offer commissioning services.

At a Rebuild America Peer Exchange in November, Robert

Somers of 2RW stressed that commissioning applies to all

building systems.

Rebuild America participants can request technical

assistance through their designated customer service

representative.

Rebuild America leadership is active on many fronts,

taking measure of where the program is and

positioning it for the future. This year the program

will put more emphasis on two critical sectors where the

need is great and the potential strong for energy-saving

initiatives – the universities and colleges and the public

housing sectors. 

We are similarly examining our Business Partner and

Strategic Partner components to see how we can add value

to their participation in the program and determine how

the collective resources of the private sector and

professional networks of trade associations can best be used

to advance energy-efficiency efforts. We continue to have

great confidence in the private sector and in trade

associations as effective vehicles for sharing information,

expertise and expanding the reach of Rebuild America.

It is especially important to build those connections at 

a time when budgets are strained. For Fiscal Year 2004, the

budget proposal to Congress for Rebuild America is less

than last year’s request. This is so that the government can

boost important new programs to make hydrogen the fuel

of the future. Our belt-tightening makes our partners all

the more important in order to leverage program assets as

much as possible.

There is no doubt that energy efficiency retains support

at the federal level. President Bush put a clear emphasis on

it when he delivered his State of the Union message. He

especially connected energy issues with environmental

protection – a reminder of the connections between a great

many local, state and federal efforts to clean the air and cut

energy bills at the same time.

We also can rededicate ourselves to doing a more

comprehensive job of recording our accomplishments –

money saved, energy saved and pollution prevented. Those

are the measurable results that justify this work.

We continue to build interconnections not only with

private-sector partners and hundreds of communities but

with other federal programs. For example, the Department

of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban

Development have agreed to renew a three-year interagency agreement to use Rebuild America partnerships as a

mechanism for advancing energy-efficiency improvements

in public housing. 

All signs point to the effectiveness of teamwork.

Dan Sze is National Program Manager of Rebuild America.

Your comments are always welcome at danielsze@rebuild.org.

View From DC 

by Daniel Sze

January – February 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 3
4 PARTNER UPDATE • January – February 2003

Ohio Keeps Public Housing Warm at Less Cost

With Help of Three Efficiency Projects

I

n the Ohio cities 

of Cincinnati,

Portsmouth and

Canton, public housing is

wasting less energy, water

and money while keeping

residents more

comfortable these days

thanks to extensive

retrofits under

performance contracts.

Given the chilliness of

this winter in the eastern

half of the United States,

the projects are success

stories to warm the hearts

of housing officials and

residents alike. But more

than that, there are

lessons to be learned on

the procedural details of

how to put together such

contracts and achieve

results.

The projects,

summarized late last year at the Rebuild America Midwest

Peer Exchange in Indianapolis, are well past their installation

phases and are producing guaranteed savings year by year. In

brief:

■ The Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing Authority made

$3.6 million in upgrades, involving 851,047 square

feet, 140 buildings and 887 units;

■ The Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority (for Stark

County, including the city of Canton) made 

$6.4 million in improvements, involving 821,169

square feet;

■ The Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority made

$7.2 million in upgrades, involving 3,988,277 square

feet and more than 4,600 units.

Because the improvements were made through

performance contracts, they involved no capital expense by

the housing authorities. Under performance contracts, the

contractor makes the improvements and covers the cost

through the achieved savings. In these cases, savings came

not only through restrained energy consumption – the

primary goal – but also through reduced water use. Savings

are projected and guaranteed by the contracting company.

Complications in the public-housing sector come from

several areas. U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

regulations make financing tricky, and housing tenants often

may not see an incentive for energy-saving behavior when

government agencies are covering costs. But Ohio effectively

worked its way through these complications.

Following are some key points that can be drawn from the

results of these projects and the comments of Ohio officials.

A typical timeline:

■ RFP (request for proposals) process: 1-2 months

■ Energy audit: 3-4 months

■ HUD approval process: 1-3 months

■ Energy conservation work: 6-18 months

■ Term of performance contract: 8-12 years

Companies must bid on an energy audit and negotiate its

exact terms. A quick way to weed out some bidding

Year Total Payment Annual % of Net CMHA

Projected to Monitoring Savings Savings

Savings Lessor Fee to CMHA Dollars

1 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

2 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

3 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

4 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

5 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

6 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

7 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

8 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

9 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

10 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

11 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

12 $889,878 $843,750 $32,551 100% $13,577

Totals $10,678,536 $10,125,000 $390,612 100% $162,924

Vestar Inc. Financial Cash Flow Analysis

Project Cost: $7,205,255 Rate of Financing: 5.1% Terms of Financing: 12 Years Construction Period: 10 months 
companies is to cut from the bid list those that propose

high-cost energy audits. After an audit is conducted, a

competent projection can be made on potential energy

savings, and typically the company that did the audit wins

the contract to carry out the energy-savings project.

Savings may exceed projections. It is up to the contracting

company and the client – in these cases the public housing

authority, or PHA – to negotiate on who will keep the

additional savings. 

In the Portsmouth case, George Horsley of the housing

authority says his organization negotiated a contract that

allows the PHA to keep all savings, including excess over the

guaranteed savings. That eliminates the energy service

contractor’s incentive to exaggerate savings in order to keep

more money, he says.

Every 12 months, the savings are audited and reconciled.

If there are not enough savings, the contractor writes a

check to the PHA to cover the shortfall.

Savings can come in several ways. In the Portsmouth case,

contractor CMS Viron Energy Services not only installed

equipment that would consume less power but negotiated 

a new gas contract.

In the case of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing

Authority upgrade, it was Vestar Inc. – a unit of Cinergy

Corp. – that won the contract. Drawing lessons from that

project, Vestar lists these success factors:

■ Notify local and regional HUD offices;

■ Early involvement by public housing authority board;

■ Solicit financing in parallel to energy audit and project

development;

■ Define board’s approval points and get on board’s

calendar;

■ Keep regional HUD office informed;

■ Determine incentive methodology;

■ Complete the energy audit quickly.

HUD regulations can pose challenges, but state and local

officials have been finding ways to deal with those issues.

HUD is a Rebuild America Strategic Partner.

CMS Viron and Vestar are Rebuild America Business

Partners, and the Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing

Authority and Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority are

Rebuild America community partnerships.

A PowerPoint presentation on the Vestar energy

conservation program for the Cincinnati Metropolitan

Housing Authority can be viewed on the Rebuild America

Web site by clicking on Events, then the Chicago Regional

Peer Forum 2002, then the presentation.

For other information on Ohio Rebuild America programs,

contact Emmanuel (Manny) Anunike of the Ohio

Department of Development, eanunike@odod.state.oh.us.

Rebuild America displayed a model classroom at the

88th Annual Meeting & Exhibits of the Association

of School Business Officials International (ASBO). 

It illustrated the benefits of an EnergySmart school. 

The 3,000-pound mock-up, part of an EnergySmart

Schools exhibit, featured high-performance windows,

skylights, T-5 fluorescent lighting with occupancy sensors,

and an ENERGY STAR® cool roof. 

Information cards throughout the exhibit described the

energy-saving technologies.

The features displayed in the exhibit were particularly

relevant to the nearly 2,000 business officials involved with

school operations. Studies indicate that K-12 schools spend

25 to 30 percent more on energy costs than necessary.

Rebuild America Business Partners Lithonia Lighting,

Sarnafil, TRACO, Novitas and U.S. Daylighting L.L.C.

(formerly Universal Natural Light) incorporated products in

the structure to demonstrate energy saving. ENERGY STAR®

donated energy-smart computers for the exhibit. Other

Business Partners participating in the EnergySmart Schools

Exhibit included Bayview Technology Group, Insulated

Component Structures, McQuay International, Powersmiths

International and Trane Company. 

Modular Technology Inc. designed and constructed the

94-square-foot classroom in its factory in Phoenix, AZ. ASBO,

a Rebuild America Strategic Partner, donated 800 square feet

of exhibit space for the EnergySmart Schools display. 

The model classroom was recently displayed at the annual

conference of the Council for Educational Facility Planners

International (CEFPI) in Scottsdale, AZ. CEFPI, a Rebuild

America Strategic Partner, also donated space. 

Rebuild America participants interested in displaying this

model can contact their designated customer service

representative with their requests.

January – February 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 5

The

EnergySmart

Schools

classroom on

display at

ASBO’s annual

conference in

Phoenix, AZ.

Model Classroom 

Teaches Savings
6 PARTNER UPDATE • January – February 2003

Wisconsin Works to Transform Markets 

for Equipment, Design and Management

T he Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA)

has set itself the goal of creating vibrant markets for

energy-efficient goods and services. As part of the

contracts it awards for building upgrades, the state tracks

and promotes the wider impacts of its programs, with the

long-term intention of pushing and pulling markets into

self-sustaining change.

“Traditional approaches for mandatory demand-side

management by utilities were measured strictly by how

many therms and kilowatt-hours were saved annually,” 

says Terry Pease, Rebuild America program representative 

for Wisconsin. “Few efforts were being made to create a

sustainable marketplace for consumers, so this program is

really a fresh way to approach and measure long-term

changes.”

The approach involves systematic recruitment of

manufacturing, retailing and service companies as allies. And

it requires tracking – a key to measuring accomplishment.

State officials have developed a series of metrics for

tracking market impacts. Contractors must produce the

metrics and work toward the market-changing objectives.

Each sector has specific market indicators to achieve in a

contract period. 

Pease presented the measurement tools of the state’s Focus

on Energy programs to Rebuild America program

participants last fall in Indianapolis at the Midwest Regional

Peer Exchange.

A baseline of current market conditions had to be

developed by assessing each sector’s level of involvement

with energy efficiency. This entailed telephone surveys,

questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with key players

in each sector. The players may be HVAC (heating,

ventilation and air conditioning) contractors, electricians,

energy service contractors, or manufacturers of energyrelated products. 

Baseline research doesn’t stop there, however. Decisionmakers from schools, private building owners, developers

and lenders were also surveyed to develop a better

understanding of the awareness and steps they were taking

toward making energy-efficiency decisions. 

This information set a ground floor above which goals

could be set. Intervention from the Focus on Energy

programs will then be measured periodically to assess market

changes and determine the most successful activities that

have influenced each sector’s behavior. 

Key indicators are expressed in percentages of market

change. Some programs are measured by the increase in the

number of companies developing an energy-efficient

procurement policy, while others may be measured by how

many architects have adopted energy-efficient designs for

high-performance buildings. 

A motor manufacturer can be measured by increases in

sales of high-efficiency motors as compared to business as

usual. Increases in the number of projects reported by trade

allies is another indicator.

“At some point in the future, when the market share for

energy-efficient products and services reaches a sustainable

plateau, we will have accomplished our goal,” Pease says.

“This is definitely a long-term yet cost-effective approach.” 

The DOA hopes the energy-efficiency

markets become more regional to bring

down the costs of energy-efficient products

and services. 

“Changing the Midwestern markets is a

big chore and will take the efforts of our

region to accomplish a competitive

marketplace,” Pease says.

For now, milestones are less noteworthy than the fact that

the four-year-old program has been launched and is growing

– in some cases, growing rapidly.

“In our schools program, the growth in recent years has

been tremendous,” Pease says.

For an example of a Wisconsin matrix drawn up to track

market changes, see the chart at right. It is specific to

schools but parallel to the sort of matrix drawn up for other

sectors. Wisconsin also is trying to track market impacts in

the goods and services and operations of government

buildings, commercial buildings large and small, industrial

facilities, rural communities, agricultural technologies and

the processing plants that treat water and wastewater.

For more information related to Focus on Energy, 

please visit www.focusonenergy.com or call Terry Pease 

at (608) 267-7971.

“At some point, when the market share for energy-efficient

products and services reaches a sustainable plateau, we

will have accomplished our goal.” 
Programs/Activities Market Barriers/Goals/Metrics/Milestones

January – February 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 7

Critical Barriers

Energy cost management

is not a priority to

decisionmakers (school

boards and district

administrators).

Energy cost management

is not a priority to

decisionmakers (school

boards and district

administrators).

Energy cost management

is not a priority to

decisionmakers (school

boards and district

administrators).

Energy cost management

is not a priority to

decisionmakers (school

boards and district

administrators).

Allies (products/service

providers), A & E firms,

lenders, and other

organizations see limited

value in selling/offering 

EE products to their

customers.

Allies (products/service

providers), A & E firms,

lenders, and other

organizations see limited

value in selling/offering EE

products to their

customers.

Critical Goals

10% increase in the

number of school districts

statewide that adopt EE

policies and practices.

Increase number of

educational decisionmakers statewide that

implement EE projects

without Focus

involvement.

Increase the number of EE

school projects

implemented by building

operators statewide based

on recommendations from

DPI, Commerce, WASDA,

WASBO, and WASB.

Increase the number 

of EE school projects statewide that are implemented

without any financial

incentives from Focus.

Increase the number of

new schools stateside that

are built to high performance standards without

Focus involvement.

Increase in number of

product/service providers

statewide that invest in

inventory, training and

capital equipment for EE

products and services

offered to schools.

Critical Metrics

Measure any increase 

in the number of school

districts statewide that

adopt EE policies and

practices compared to 

a market baseline.

Measure any increase in

the number of educational

decisionmakers statewide

that implement EE

projects without Focus

involvement compared 

to a market baseline.

Measure any increase in

the number of EE school

projects implemented by

building operators statewide based on recommendations from DPI,

Commerce, WASDA,

WASBO, WASB, compared

to market baseline.

Measure any increase 

the number of EE school

projects statewide that 

are implemented without

any financial incentives 

from Focus compared to 

a market baseline.

Measure any increase

statewide in the number

of new schools built to

high performance

standards without Focus

involvement, compared 

to market baseline.

Measure any increase in

the number of product/

service providers statewide

that invest in inventory,

training and capital

equipment for EE products

and services offered 

to schools, compared to

market baseline.

Critical

Milestones

By end of contract

year two

By end of contract

year two

By end of contract

year two

By end of contract

year two

By end of contract

year two

By end of contract

year two

Conduct statewide 

energy use survey for 

each segment, target and 

implement services to 

top 25% of highest 

energy using buildings 

in each sector.

Use ENERGY STAR®

benchmarking tool with 

statewide energy use 

survey to label facilities 

and increase awareness 

of decision-maker.

Provide technical 

training sessions 

statewide for building 

operators.

Empower DPI, 

Commerce, WASDA, 

WASBO and WASB as 

advocates for energy 

efficiency in schools by 

enlisting them as program 

delivery agents.

Provide allies, A & E 

firms, lenders, and 

organizations training, 

EE materials and media, 

curricular support, 

technical assistance, 

and EE sales support 

package.

Provide allies, A & E firms, 

lenders, and organizations 

training, EE materials and 

media, curricular support, 

technical assistance, and 

EE sales support package.

Wisconsin Focus on Energy, Major Markets: Schools

Second Contract Period
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

have figured out how to make steel-framed walls 

that are comparable to wood in thermal efficiency

and cost.

Large buildings already have steel frames, of course. But

for home renovators and builders, wood framing

overwhelmingly dominates the market. Now steel-framed

walls can provide their benefits of strength, safety, durability

and reduced environmental impact while matching the

energy performance of wood-framed construction for

multifamily and single-family housing and many moderatesize commercial buildings.

In the ORNL Building Technology Center, Jan Kosny

explains that he and fellow researchers have come up with

more than one design that can allow steel framing to be

substituted for wood in walls.

For one of their designs with patent pending – a design

incorporating a novel shape for the steel stud – they are

looking for an industrial partner to take the system into

development. A second design has been put in the public

domain and can be adopted by the general public with

conventional building supplies already widely available.

The energy problem with conventional steel stud walls is

that thermal bridges created by the steel components reduce

their thermal performance by up to 55 percent. Steel is a

good conductor of energy, potentially allowing increased

winter heat losses and summer heat gains.

During 2001-02, Kosny and colleagues tested both of their

new steel-frame designs against wood 2x6 walls. Steel and

wood walls both had fiberglass insulation. The resulting

difference in energy efficiency was negligible, he says.

The Steel Framing Alliance, an industry group, also reports

life-cycle energy savings can be anticipated from steel-frame

walls due to the relative air tightness of a steel building.

8 PARTNER UPDATE • January – February 2003

ORNL steel-frame walls are 10 to 15 percent more

expensive than wood-frame walls, the national lab’s

researchers estimated. But there are other measures by which

ORNL steel technologies have cost advantages over the wood

framing. The ORNL steel framing comes with special

channels to allow for wiring and piping, so that holes do not

have to be drilled – allowing a savings on labor during

construction.

Savings also can come from the steel being resistant to

temperature, humidity, termites, rotting, splitting, cracking

and warping. There is less variability in steel materials than

in wood, which means more reliability in steel materials and

less waste from material discarded during construction.

Structural steel installed in buildings is almost 100 percent

recyclable, and it does not involve chopping down trees, 

a politically sensitive subject. It lasts longer than wood,

making it come closer to the ideal of “sustainability” in

construction – longer life equating to less resource demand

for replacement units. It increases fire safety, and mold does

not grow on it.

The various advantages of steel counterbalance or even

beat the initial cost advantage of wood, Kosny says. 

Material advantages and cost are not the only factors that

must be considered, however. Market inertia is a concern.

Builders, designers and do-it-yourself homeowners also can

be resistant to anything new. “People often are afraid of

encountering problems they can’t solve,” Kosny says.

Both of ORNL’s steel-wall designs were devised in

consultation with the American Iron and Steel Institute,

Steel Framing Alliance, and several steel-forming companies

from North America and Scandinavia. The Steel Framing

Alliance, an industry group, was created by the American

Iron and Steel Institute in 1998 to accelerate the use of lightgauge steel framing in construction.

More information on the Oak Ridge technologies can be

obtained by contacting Marty Goolsby, (865) 574-4166. For

news and background information from industry, visit the

Steel Framing Alliance at www.steelframingalliance.com.

TECHNOLOGY:

Oak Ridge Lab 

Helps Develop 

Steel-Frame Walls

Steel and wood are combined in ORNL novel wall.

Town of Blacksburg, VA

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Tucson Unified School District, AZ

King County Housing Authority, WA

Alexandria County Day School, VA

Edmonson County Public Schools, NC

New Partnerships
January – February 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 9

operation, and one TDOC employee now supervises the

operation. The current laundry uses four washers and 15

dryers. In addition to saving on utility costs, maintenance

expenses dropped dramatically, largely because the inmates

are no longer responsible for washing and drying.

Henson also notes that they are trying to change people’s

behavior by attaching signs on light switches reminding

users to turn off the lights if a room is unoccupied.

In 1999, NECX saved $250,000 in energy costs. The facility

uses less energy today than before the energy-efficiency

upgrades were implemented, even though

340 more inmates have been added. 

Henson credits Rebuild America with

helping NECX get started on the road to

energy efficiency. He and his staff attended

Rebuild America technical seminars which

helped them identify ways to save energy.

Across the state, in Tiptonville, the Northwest Correctional

Complex (NWCX) installed a pilot geothermal system to

help heat and cool a building housing 48 inmates. The

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – the largest U.S. public

power company – provided funding to hire an engineer to

design the system. A team of professors and students at the

University of Tennessee-Martin (UTM) developed

specifications for the instrumentation. The students

designed, installed and tested the controls – some real-world

experience for the undergraduate engineering majors.

The project is unique in that the system can be directly

compared to an identical building nearby that uses the same

heat pumps but is connected to a central loop system

instead of the geothermal system. A third identical building,

which uses the old heating system, is also being used as a

control group.

For the next two years, the UTM students will collect the

data through a Web-based monitoring system. They are also

developing software to automate the collection system and

analyze the results. The students, along with Drs. Robert

LeMaster and Douglas Sterrett, will present the findings at

the American Society for Engineering Education’s annual

conference June 22-25 in Nashville. “In the end, we want to

know without question which one of these systems is the

most economically viable approach for us,” explains Mark

Watson, NWCX procurement officer.

The Northwest Correctional Complex’s efforts go beyond

the geothermal project to include water conservation.

Timing devices installed on latrines, water closets and

showers shut off the stream of water after a specified amount

of time. TDOC estimates that the electronic controls have

reduced water use by 50 percent while also lowering

maintenance costs. TDOC also is involved in the testing of

alternative systems for treating cooling tower water.

TDOC is also helping others learn how to save energy. In

December, TDOC successfully presented an energy technical

seminar in Pikeville. Attendees gained insight into

substantial energy-saving opportunities in this oftenoverlooked segment of government facilities.

Nine Rebuild America Business Partners participated in 

the program, including Lithonia Lighting, Earth Protection

Services, Water & Energy Savings Corporation, CutlerHammer, McQuay International, Siemens, EnLink

GeoEnergy Services, Sarnafil and Johnson Controls. TVA 

and Johnson Controls sponsored the conference expenses.

With the success of the program, the Department of

Correction may organize another program this fall.

The program was particularly relevant for those attendees

whose states face budget deficits. Some states are going so 

far as releasing non-violent offenders to help balance their

budgets. With Tennessee’s proven track record of reducing

energy use in correctional facilities, it is quickly becoming 

a model for other states looking to reduce costs.

For more information contact Customer Service

Representative Charles Young at (252) 459-6300, or Atlanta

Regional Team Leader Greg Andrews at (404) 562-0573.

Prison System 

A control panel for a heat pump.

continued from page 1

“In the end, we want to know without question 

which one of these systems is the most economically

viable approach for us.”
Upcoming Events

March

11-12 Measurement & Verification Workshop, Middle

Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN.

Contact Linda Hardymon at 615-904-8096 or

email lhardymo@mtsu.edu.

12-15 Building Energy 2003 Conference, Boston Park

Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA and Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Call

413-774-6051 or email nesea@nesea.org.

13 Rebuild America Energy Saving Technology

Seminar, Southern California Edison Customer

Technology Center, Irwindale, CA.Visit

www.rebuild.org/events/eventdetails.asp?

NewsID=1478

17-19 National Association of Housing and

Redevelopment Officials 2003 Legislative

Conference, JW Marriott Hotel, Washington,

DC. Visit the Rebuild America Web site,

www.nahro.org/conferences/legoverview.html.

24-26 National Center for Photovoltaics Solar

Program Review Meeting – 2003, Marriott City

Center, Denver, CO. Contact Ivilina Thornton

at 303-275-3781 or email

ivilina_thornton@nrel.gov.

April

2-3 Association of Energy Engineers Globalcon

2003 Conference & Expo, Hynes Convention

Center, Boston, MA. Contact Ruth Marie at

770-447-5083 or email info@aeecenter.org.

10 PARTNER UPDATE • January – February 2003

While researchers in laboratories of the U.S.

Department of Energy study ways to increase

energy efficiency, the American Public Power

Association (APPA) is working toward the same goal with its

own R&D effort. The latest result of that program is a guide

on energy efficiency for small businesses, just on the verge of

being published.

APPA, a Strategic Partner of Rebuild America, has other

partners, too. For the new guide coming out for small

businesses, the power association teamed up with yet

another Rebuild America Strategic Partner – the Association

of Small Business Development Centers. Most often, APPA

teams with one of its own member utilities.

More than 2,000 municipally owned utilities form APPA.

Partly because they are public utilities, not corporations with

profits to worry about, they work to help their communities

– their owners – save money through efficiency.

Another reason for their interest in efficiency is their

wariness of being forced to dip deeply into wholesale

markets when electrical power demand surges. A utility can

take a financial hit when buying additional power supplies,

which do not always come cheap.

“A lot of our projects in the end do help with demand-side

management,” says Michele Ghosh, APPA’s administrator for

its Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments (DEED)

program.

Created in 1980, DEED sponsors activities that promote

energy innovation, including efficiency projects. Here is a

sampling of DEED projects, almost always developed with a

member utility taking the lead:

■ In Kentucky, the Glasgow Electric Plant Board hopes to

cut maintenance costs for street lighting by developing

controls that will transmit streams of information from

photo cell units to a centralized data base.

■ In Texas, Cities Public Service is investigating grid

connection issues and performance capabilities of a

combined heat and power system that would be

installed in a typical supermarket to save energy and

provide backup power.

■ In Vermont, the Burlington Electric Department wants

to document the process of creating and sustaining a

Green Schools program at a large urban high school.

APPA utilities serve about 15 percent of the U.S. public. 

To learn more of DEED projects, visit its Web site at

www.appanet.org/DEED/projects/projects.cfm.

STRATEGIC PARTNER:

APPA Helps Cut

Electric Utility Bills

Number of Partnerships:

503

Total Number of Committed or 

Completed Square Feet:

1,099,242,538

as of February 7, 2003 

Rebuild America Progress Calculator
Snap Shot: Bill Mixon

Vital Statistics 

About four year ago, Bill moved to Watts Bar Lake – about

halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga, TN – after

living in Oak Ridge, TN. Bill lives with his wife, Louise, a real

estate agent, who is active in Altrusa, the Rotary Club, the

local Chamber of Commerce and her church choir. Bill and

Louise have two sons and two grandsons, ages 11 and 15,

who live in Knoxville. They have no pets, Bill notes, unless

you count the herd of uninvited white-tail deer that

frequent their yard to taste the flowers and shrubs.

How long have you been working with the

Rebuild America program?

I’m a charter member. Work began in the fall of 1993 with

the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other participants

to develop implementation plans for Rebuild America.

How did you get into this line of work?

In 1974, while at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), 

I took the opportunity of managing a U.S. Department of

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program to develop

and assess the concept of stand-alone, integrated community

utility systems for conservation of energy and water and

minimization of liquid and solid waste. This program

developed unique expertise in my group for estimating

demands and managing resources for all utility services, and

illustrated the large potential for reduced consumption of

purchased energy and water and environmental impacts. 

We realized the much greater potential for energy savings

in existing buildings and developed an Existing Buildings

Research Program, with funding from DOE, the Air Force,

Army, HUD and two utilities, which I managed at ORNL.

After all, there were 100 million existing buildings and only

about one million new buildings built each year. Highlights

included development of the national energy audit (NEAT)

and other technical improvements for the DOE

Weatherization Assistance Program that increased energy

savings from 10 percent to 25 percent at the same cost;

development of guidelines and procedures for

weatherization of military family housing; implementation

of a DOE-HUD initiative for public housing; field monitoring

to determine the actual energy savings of a wide range of

retrofit measures in residential and commercial buildings;

energy benchmarking for Asia-Pacific Economic

Cooperation; pilot projects for state buildings; and an initial

proposal and four-month assignment at DOE headquarters

that helped get Rebuild America started.

What do you find most rewarding about your

work?

That the program has approval of partnerships and is

making a difference in the way that buildings are designed

and retrofitted that may be self-sustaining. It’s also

rewarding when expertise within the National Labs and

Business Partners is matched with partnership needs to

improve the implementation and benefits of building

projects. 

What is your favorite thing to do in eastern

Tennessee?

My favorite things include social and sports activities with

long-time friends, quality time with the grandsons –

watching their soccer games, taking trips to the mall and

Dollywood®, and hosting overnight birthday parties – and

enjoying the ever-changing beauty of the lakes and

mountains, along with winding down with a spectacular

sunset from our west deck. 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I like to play tennis, cruise on the deck boat or jet ski, play

bridge, fish for crappie or bream (with fly rod), snow ski,

travel, and try to keep all the toys in working condition.

Goals for next summer are to get back on the wind surfer

and Hobie Cat (a small, one-person fishing boat).

What is your dream vacation?

Life is a beach. I’d like to spend a week each at some of the

beautiful beaches we have seen during cruises in the

Caribbean, but a slow wine trip by barge through France or 

a return to Venice and southern Italy also sound like good

dream vacations.

January – February 2003 • PARTNER UPDATE 11

Bill Mixon is an assistance

coordinator with Rebuild

America’s Products and 

Services Team.
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 now incorporates

other news about energy-efficient initiatives of

the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy.

High

Performance

BUILDINGS

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

energy-efficient 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