Upton, NY - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Grid have signed a Utility Energy Service Contract (UESC) for infrastructure upgrades at Brookhaven National Laboratory that are designed to substantially reduce the lab's energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Under the UESC, National Grid will facilitate third-party financing for DOE in the amount of $12.2 million to implement lighting and other energy efficiency upgrades at the Laboratory. The loan will be repaid using the savings generated by the upgrades, which are expected to total more than $1.3 million each year.

"This contract is a win-win for the Laboratory and for DOE, as it will reduce the Laboratory's energy costs and also help us meet DOE and federal energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals," said Lanny Bates, Brookhaven Lab's Assistant Laboratory Director for Facilities and Operations. "It will allow us to leverage our operating funds to reinvest in much-needed infrastructure improvements, many of which would have been delayed or not funded at all without this type of arrangement in place."

UESCs are one of DOE's contract vehicles for implementing energy conservation and cost-savings projects at government facilities. Under a UESC, the local utility, in this case National Grid, facilitates the design, finance, and construction of the project. The contract term is 10 years.

"This UESC is a departure from the traditional contracts typically used for DOE energy-saving projects, and we hope our success here will serve as a model for other laboratories throughout the Department of Energy complex," said Evelyn Landini, DOE Contracting Officer and Business Management Division Director for the DOE-Brookhaven Site Office.

The contract will enable the lab to upgrade lighting systems in 17 buildings, replace and enhance energy management controls in nine buildings, and install a new high-efficiency water chiller at the lab's Central Chilled Water Facility.Photo courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory"National Grid is proud to be supporting this project and partnering with the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Siemens Building Technologies, the service provider on this project," said Tom King, National Grid President. "This project is an important part of National Grid's commitment to sustainability and to improving the quality of life in the Long Island communities in which we work and live."

The UESC will enable the Laboratory to upgrade lighting systems in 17 buildings, replace and enhance energy management controls in nine buildings, and install a new high efficiency 1,250-ton water chiller and related components at the Laboratory's Central Chilled Water Facility, which provides cooling water for lab processes and buildings. The lighting upgrades will include installing new fixtures and retrofitting existing fixtures, replacing existing lamps and ballasts with more efficient ones, and installing occupancy sensors and timers.

The improvements are expected to reduce the Laboratory's annual energy intensity by approximately 11 percent compared to baseline measurements, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 7,000 metric tons. The savings from the UESC combined with other sustainability efforts will help the Laboratory meet its 28-percent greenhouse gas reduction goal for 2020, as well as a 30-percent energy intensity reduction goal by 2015.

Work on the project is expected to begin as early as December 2013 and be completed in mid 2015.