In recent years, airside economizing has become one of the quickest and most efficient routes to reliable energy savings and improved indoor air quality. In addition to reduced power costs resulting from increased HVAC system efficiency, owners and operators that utilize airside economizers often have the opportunity to further increase savings by taking advantage of a number of federal, state and local energy rebates and incentives.
Because most rebate programs vary from state to state (and even county to county and utility provider to utility provider in some cases), it’s important to understand not only how to identify which programs are applicable to your facility, but also how the structure of the rebate and/or incentive can be used to maximize energy savings.
For instance, some rebate programs pay a portion of the cost to install an airside economizer. In these cases, rebates can either come in the form of a fixed-price sum or a percentage of the total installation cost incurred by the owner. Additional programs offer a monetary amount based on each unit of power saved (kwh), while others provide benefits based on the weight of the equipment being installed (e.g., $200 per ton).
In addition to rebate programs, understanding the energy codes and regulations set forth by state and federal regulatory agencies has also played a key role in maximizing energy savings at commercial facilities. This, however, has become a thing of the past with development of Belimo’s ZIP Economizer. Unlike conventional airside economizers, the ZIP Economizer has all relevant climate zone and energy code data already built in, so all users have to do is simply enter their ZIP code and the controller does the rest.
To further help owners and operators get the most out of their economizing operation, Belimo
has also developed a highly convenient search tool powered by the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE), which provides users with quick and easy access to thousands of different rebate programs and incentives associated with energy management tools like economizers. All you have to do is select your state, enter your ZIP code and the search tool does the rest; providing you with a list of all applicable rebates for your specific region. A link to the search tool can be found at www.ZIPeconomizer.com.
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