Welcome
Ray Maas has over forty years experience running and managing wholesale distribution companies. He has experience selling to wholesalers and electrical contractors. Ray has an Engineering degree from North Dakota State University. Ray has experience with Lighting, Controls, Pump Systems, Heating and Air Conditioning.
Craig Maas has twenty-five years of wholesale experience. Craig has a Marketing degree from Moorhead State University and is responsible for developing one of the most advanced computerized marketing systems in the country.
Craig is also the webmaster for a number of web sites. We specialize in small company sites but have also done some large e-commerce sites and one page sites for nonprofit organizations. You don’t have to pay a lot of money to have a nice site. › Continue reading
Outsmarting Your Building
A couple posts ago I raised a point about buildings being smarter than the owners. So what is the solution? How can an owner or manager get control of their building and get the operations and maintenance running in an optimal budget?
ACES Low
The House of Representatives voted on the American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009. I haven’t read the bill, and I doubt our congressmen have either, but it the idea that you can just pass a bill and magically our county’s energy problems are solved is very naive. Furthermore the efficiency targets of the bill are unrealistic even if they are a good idea. What really makes me mad is- efficiency is its own reward. If these ASHRAE 90.1 reductions were so easy to obtain everyone would be doing it for the cost savings. The fact that few are speaks volumes. The few that are, are using government sponsored utility rebates or mandated government regulations. It is never a good idea for the government to interfere with the market, especially when the outcome is so questionable. I am happy to see I’m not the only one who things so. In the August edition of Engineered Systems Magazine (page 8), they polled readers on the bill and the outcome wasn’t good. These are professionals who love energy efficient solutions, so you better believe they have more insight than congressmen who voted on this bill, or the green lobbyists who probably wrote.
Xcel Energy Rebate Recap
Xcel Energy is continually updating their energy rebate programs. If your project saves energy, particularly if it cuts your electric demand, Xcel is bound to have a rebate program for you. This assumes you’re in Minnesota, New Mexico, or Colorado. If you’re in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, or Texas you’re out of luck. (We have offsetting lower rates and lower taxes.)
- Parking garage lighting retrofits
Effective July 1, 2009, Minnesota Xcel Energy business customers converting from 150W or 175W high intensity discharge (HID) lighting to two- or three-lamp T8s or T5H0s are now eligible for a rebate of $50 per fixture. Xcel has simplified the process with new rebate forms. See the Parking Garage Lighting Application for requirements and rebate incentive information. - Lighting Redesign Studies
A complete building-wide lighting system analysis of can show you the best approach to improve lighting design or to reduce existing light output while maintaining proper lighting levels for your needs. Xcel has increased lighting redesign study incentive to 75% of the cost of the study, not to exceed $25,000, and more than doubled many of our equipment rebates. - More Lighting Rebates
Every step to lower lighting use, from installing energy-efficient lighting to adding controls or offering in-depth photometric analysis can significantly lower your customers’ energy bills and earn substantial rebates.
A) $400 per kW saved for preapproved projects when they add their lighting system to a building control system or add microprocessor controls to lighting systems.
B) Custom Efficiency program now offers a method of analyzing lighting projects that yield greater rebate potential for your customers. - Boiler Rebates
New boilers, efficiency-boosting add-ons and tune-ups for boilers used for space heating and/or domestic water heating now can go through our Boiler Efficiency rebate program without preapproval. Xcel offers rebates for projects that improve the efficiency of existing equipment such as boiler tune-ups, steam trap repair/replacement and boiler add-ons.
Updated Minnesota Energy Code
The long-awaited Minnesota Energy Code for Commercial Buildings will take effect on June 1, 2009. The code itself adopts the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Energy Standard with minor modifications.
The new code will have an impact on Energy Design Assistance, Cooling Efficiency and Variable Frequency Drives. Because the adoption of a new, higher energy code will result in increased minimum efficiencies.
For more information about the commercial energy code, please visit the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry construction codes and standards energy Web site.
Free: Advanced Energy Design Guides
ASHRAE and its partnering organizations have made the Advanced Energy Design Guides available as free PDFs. The guides encourage energy efficient design in a range of building types: K-12 schools, small office and retail buildings, small warehouses and self-storage buildings and highway lodging.
They are available at www.ashrae.org/freeaedg.
The guides help to educate the marketplace on how to build energy efficient buildings that use significantly less energy than those built to the minimum code requirements.
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Recent Posts
- LED Lighting
- Outsmarting Your Building
- ACES Low
- Xcel Energy Rebate Recap
- Free: Advanced Energy Design Guides
- Motors, Drives, and Money
- Moorhead Energy Incentive Programs
- Wolfram Alpha, Wave, And Bing
- Your Building May Be Too Smart For Its Own Good
- Dehumidification
- Energy Modeling For Schools
- Joseph Lstiburek
- Dimming and Daylight
- Ashrae Journal January 2009
- Capitol Recovery Factor