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14 Hartford Business Journal • November 5, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Gregory Seay gseay@hartfordbusiness.com M anufacturer Ronald Rousseau found an Enfi eld industrial building to replace the 65,000-square- foot Glastonbury edifi ce that once housed his family's production of acrylic retail countertop displays that was destroyed by fi re in Nov. 2015. Originally, Rousseau, co-owner with his brother of Preferred Display Inc., budgeted about $1 million to refi t the previously vacant 115,000-square-foot manufacturing-distribution facility at 215 Moody Road, in the town's Haz- ardville section, with fresh paint and energy-effi cient LED overhead lighting. Turns out that was just the begin- ning — and just in time — of a whole- sale energy-effi ciency/sustainability makeover, including adding digitally monitored, more effi cient equipment, at Preferred. By the start of work in May 2017 and completion last December, Rousseau doubled the company's renova- tion budget beyond lighting to include a high-capacity electric-service upgrade, plus more effi cient compressed-air, dust-collection and waste-heat recovery systems. With some technical hand-holding from Plainville engineering-services vendor Loureiro Engineering Associ- ates LLC and electric-natural gas utility Eversource Energy, Preferred was on its way to a projected $65,000 in annual savings on just its lightening bill. Preferred Display's path to energy effi ciency is an example of the collaborations that have been un- derway for years between compa- nies and utility- service providers like Eversource. Preferred and other small and large commercial and household customers, Ever- source offi cials say, have ben- efi ted from their participation in "Energize CT,'' a statewide energy- conservation pro- gram that off ers rebates, fi nanc- ing and services for clean-energy improvements. (United Illuminat- ing also partici- pates.) However, the program's future impact remains a big uncertainty. Fewer partici- pants have found their way into En- ergizeCT programs this year due to a $117 million raid by state lawmakers on the Connecticut Energy Effi ciency Fund, which is staked from a sliver of customers' monthly light bills. The controver- sial raid, which prompted a lawsuit from the energy-effi ciency industry, helped plug a hole in the state's General Fund budget. However, it also "means Connecticut will do about half the electric effi ciency it did in 2017," according to William Dornbos, advocacy director at Acadia Center, a New England nonprofi t pro- moter of clean, effi cient energy use. "This is a signifi cant step backwards,'' said Dornbos, who also chairs the Con- necticut Energy Effi ciency Board, whose 15 members guide energy-effi ciency funds and advise the state's utilities on ways to help ratepayers curb their ener- gy use. "It means our energy system will be more expensive due to unnecessary energy waste, and many fewer utility customers — residents and businesses — will have access to energy-effi ciency services and upgrades this year." According to the effi ciency board's 2017 annual report, effi ciency programs in 2017 saved businesses $32 million annually in energy costs. Most of the savings came from lighting upgrades. Dan Bakal, director of electric power at Boston energy sustain- ability advocate Ceres, says that while Connecticut has received high marks for its clean- energy policies, cutting funding threatens to slow that momentum. "Energy effi - ciency is compli- cated,'' Bakal said, "in that it really does require sup- port and incen- tives to help cus- tomers overcome the barriers." Eversource in 2017 oversaw about 6,000 energy-con- servation upgrades for Connecticut businesses of all sizes, said spokesman Mitch Gross. The utility estimates its Energize CT participants ultimately trim their electricity use by about 1½ percent per year. For cash-strapped fi rms, the utility off ers zero-percent fi nancing for up to four years that customers repay via their monthly light bills. Since the energy-fund cut, Gross says the utility has not seen a slow- down in customer requests for its energy-conservation audits/services. "While their actions have made things challenging for us,'' Gross said, "our representatives are busy working with business and residential custom- ers who continue to take advantage of the various energy-effi ciency off erings and incentives." The upgrades Conservation increasingly is embraced by the state, regulators, Going Green Amid funding cuts, Enfi eld manufacturer fi nds energy-effi ciency program a worthy investment Top-ranked U.S. investor- owned electric utilities on clean-energy deployment CATEGORY Incremental Life cycle annual energy energy Rank effi ciency* effi ciency** 1 Eversource Energy Eversource Energy 2 PG&E National Grid 3 Portland PG&E General Electric 4 National Grid Exelon 5 Pinnacle West Pinnacle West * Ratio of energy savings to annual power sales. ** Ratio of estimated volume of kilowatt hours saved during the long-term lifecycle of energy-saving measures implemented by customers. Sources: 2016 Benchmarking Utility Clean Energy by Ceres Dan Bakal, Director of Electric Power, Ceres William Dornbos, Advocacy Director, Acadia Center HBJ PHOTO | GREGORY SEAY Manufacturer Ronald Rousseau, co-owner of Preferred Display Inc., points to one of the 925 new, energy-effi cient LED lighting ballasts installed at his 215 Moody Road plant in Enfi eld.