UNIMAGINABLE SAVINGS FROM US EPA'S FIRST PERFORMANCE CONTRACT

摘要

Think outside the box. It paid the EPA project developers to question conventional wisdom. For example, single-pass air had always been the rule in the auto testing labs. Was it necessary? Before competing the ESPC, project managers requested and received authority to reduce air exchange rates. It was an enormous money saver that paid for some very expensive equipment. The project comes with a lifetime of maintenance. For 24 years, EPA should not have to worry about maintenance on the ESPC equipment. Maintenance was a built-in part of the deal. The ESCO is motivated to hold very high maintenance standards because its income depends on it. Even without the national energy crisis, the complete replacement of NVFEL's infrastructure in one fell swoop was a small miricle. All recognize that the maintenance budget could not have accomplished this is less than 25 years, and even then the pieces would not have fit. The old equipment was essentially dead. What NVFEL has now is a fully integrated infrastructure where all subsystems work together in synergy for optimal efficiency, and all brand new. This ESPC arrived just in time. It saved NVFEL from a budgetary disaster after the recent energy price hikes. "I'd hate to think how much more we'd be spending if we hadn't done the ESPC," said lab director Mike Sabourin. Others can only wish they had done the same. According to Sabourin, "This was a disaster waiting to happen. Now we have a facility that will serve us for 25 years."