Thunder Bay Businesses Get RETROFIT and Get Awarded
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Thunder Bay Businesses Get

Thunder Bay Businesses Get RETROFIT and Get Awarded

 

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  Recently Thunder Bay Hydro recognized four local businesses at its 2014 Retrofit Excellence in Energy Efficiency & Conservation Awards. Each business presented with the honour, has demonstrated leadership to save on energy and has participated in the Thunder Bay Hydro saveONenergy RETROFIT PROGRAM over the past year.

 The RETROFIT PROGRAM provides incentives for commercial operations to install newer, more energy efficient solutions. Says Robert Mace, President of Thunder Bay Hydro; “Thunder Bay Hydro is proud to recognize the great things happening in our community and the local businesses who do more to save energy. At Thunder Bay Hydro, we understand that a saved kilowatt has value and it only makes business sense to encourage savings through our programs and offer incentives to those who participate. The businesses acknowledged today, are all committed to operate more efficiently and as a result are feeling the benefits.”

The recipients of the 2014 Retrofit Excellence in Energy Efficiency & Conservation Awards are as follows: • Badanai Motors Retrofit Measure: Lighting fixture replacements. Key Stat: Business is saving 44,000 kWh of electricity annually. • Dufresne Retrofit Measure: LED lighting upgrades. Key Stat: Project cost totaled $32,000; payback period for installation is less than one year. • LMI Thunder Bay Retrofit Measure: Old lighting replaced with new more efficient lighting. Key Stat: Business is saving $25,000 on annual electricity bill. • Smith’s RV Centre Retrofit Measure: Old lighting replaced with new more efficient lighting Key Stat: Business is saving 35% of total energy use. Since 2007, Thunder Bay Hydro Conservation has completed over 250 Retrofits in the community, saving 8,600,000 kWh of electricity. This equates to enough electricity to power 900 homes. At the 2014 Retrofit Excellence in Energy Efficiency & Conservation Awards, Thunder Bay Hydro also announced three local businesses that are committed to “Get RETROFIT” over the next year. The 2014 Retrofit Recruits are: • Airlane Hotel & Conference Centre Committed to upgrading to more efficient HVAC and indoor/outdoor lighting. • Dominion Motors Committed to replacing over 50% of their old inefficient light with more efficient models. • Naxos Grille & Bar Committed to replacing old lighting with more efficient and longer lasting LED models. Says Jake Allen, Energy Advisor of Thunder Bay Hydro; “Most of us need an extra incentive to get in shape and saveONenergy programs provide that motivation. Our new Retrofit Recruits are committed to improving the physical condition of their business. Every year more and more businesses are committing to find new ways to save energy and money for the long-term. We are encouraging other businesses to commit and get retrofit.”

The RETROFIT PROGRAM offers incentives to upgrade to high efficiency equipment such as lighting, motors and heating, and for installing new control systems. Over 130 Thunder Bay businesses have already committed to participate in the program in 2014. Over the last seven years the saveONenergy RETROFIT program has paid out over $1.3 million in incentives to local Thunder Bay businesses. www.tbhydro.saveonenergy.ca/retrofit

“ Last year we did the awards out of 110 we completed in Thunder Bay. Since 2007  when the retrofit program started we saved about 8.6 million kilowatt hours. That equates to enough power to supply yo about 900 homes. We start off the process when someone has old energy electrical products and  help get them better products in their businesses. The major one everyone does is take old lightning and replace it with energy efficient  lighting. Old motors and processes. Some of the award winners today will recoup their costs n 8 months . We like to see 2 years on average.”

Rob Coffey Dufresne Furniture. “ We were approached by Thunder Bay Hydro and shown the rebates offered. It made sense for us and we paid for the project in less than a year. We had 75 watt bulbs which we changed to 15 watt led bulbs so a huge savings per bulb with 800 in our showroom. One of the main costs for us is lightning in our showroom.  The old style lights generate a lot of heat so in the summer the air conditioner was running more. We have our energy costs to 20% of what it was before.”

Pat Spina General Sales Manager at Badanai Motors “ We were looking at our lighting and heard about the retrofit program for Thunder Bay Hydro. They came in and showed us the number of kilowatt hours we could save and they also give you a rebate. 44,000 kilowatts were saved with the new T 8 fixtures. We also get a brighter service and body shop as well as offices. We still have our showroom to do.”

Ben Hettrick, General Manager at Smith’s RV Centre “ We replace all of our lighting to energy efficient T5 lighting in the showroom and the shop. We wanted to get more brightness in our showroom   to recreate the camping experience inside the showroom with the T 5 lights. The goal was also to save energy and some money in the process. It is better lightning, conserving energy and working with another strong company  in Thunder Bay. It will increase sales because it is giving us that nice bright light everyone is looking for.”



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