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DESCRIPTION
Atwal Eye Center has a staff of over 90 associates including highly experienced surgeons. Their 32,000 sq.ft headquarters building at 3095 Harlem also includes space they lease to Buffalo Ambulatory Service Center. In addition, Atwal has 4 branch offices that are also included in the project. Atwal is a sustainability minded company and has a vested interested in the health and wellness of its professional staff and patients.
Green Building Partners was introduced to Atwal’s senior management as a member of Energy Mark’s energy management consortium. GBP developed a proposal for turnkey deployment of a wireless energy management system (EMS) to reduce waste from heating and cooling spaces during unoccupied hours (mostly nights / weekends). The proposal included utility incentive management, utility savings estimates, and a ROI analysis to effectively cover 100% of their occupied spaces. To confirm optimum ventilation rates and below-threshold pollution levels GBP recommended a real-time IAQ monitoring program consistent with requirements from the International Well Building Institute (WELL Building Certifications).
In addition to the EMS utility incentives from National Grid, Atwal took advantage of National Grid’s low-cost finance program (through Verdant Capital) to finance the entire project. The customer’s monthly utility savings exceed the monthly lease payment, resulting in the project being cashflow positive from the start while preserving capital investment for more core operational improvements.
When including the cost of the continuous IAQ monitoring the ROI for the total project is calculated at 38%, whereas the energy savings from the EMS alone is 45%. When adjustments are made for spaces that are over-ventilated as identified by the IAQ monitoring, the energy savings / ROI will increase over and above the projected savings from the EMS alone.
The Western New York Sustainable Business Roundtable awarded Green Building Partners Innovator of The Year, where this project was cited as an example for achieving both carbon reduction and advancing health and wellness within their spaces.