Claire Putnam, Women’s Health Services
“Everyone should have an MREP energy audit! I would not have been able to do my REAP grant without them! Danielle was incredibly helpful in finding ways to save money, and getting maximum rebates to help me improve my energy savings. Not only was she insightful and spot-on with her knowledge of energy efficiency and ways to cut costs, she was fun to work with! She would call me up and say ‘I think I found some more money for you, send me your receipts for that!’ I will certainly continue to refer other friends and business owners to her, so they can find ways to save energy and save money!” – Claire Putnam, MD, Women’s Health Services, Bozeman
Dr. Claire Putnam purchased a building on 7th Ave. in Bozeman and planned to remodel the building into a women’s clinic. The one-story building was built in 1940 for residential purposes and converted into commercial space several years later. It currently has an unfinished basement. The remodel was intended to improve the energy efficiency of the building while creating a comfortable space for the patients. The remodel included new windows, a completely updated HVAC system, all new LED lighting, upgraded insulation, and cosmetic upgrades on the exterior and interior.
Total Savings for the Project
This project will save over 14,000 kWh and 107,000 kBTUs per year. That is the equivalent of saving 1,410 gallons of gasoline! The project is outlined in the table below with each elements’ annual savings, cost, and simple payback. The simple payback uses the current utility rates to calculate the cost savings on an annual basis.
| Item | Conservation Measure |
Annual kBTU Savings (converted) |
Annual Cost Savings | Projected Cost | Simple
Payback (yrs)* |
Potential
Utility Funding |
| 1. | Lighting LED Retrofit | 45,788 | $586 | $1,090 | 1.09 |
$432.00 |
| 2. | Window Replacement | 54,238 | $466 | $17,434 | 39.1 | N/A |
| 3. | Insulation Upgrade | 51,885 | $511 | $4,716 | 9.23 | $920.00 |
| 4. | HVAC Equipment Upgrade | 35,083 | $1,610 | $15,176 | 9.43 | $461.30 |
| Totals | 186,994 | $3,173 | $38,416 | 11.5 | $1,813 |
HVAC Equipment
The new HVAC system includes an ENERGY STAR-rated furnace and air conditioner manufactured by Trane. The old system consisted of an older furnace (assumed rating at 78% efficiency) and a Bryant 10 SEER outdoor unit for cooling. The new furnace is 97.3% efficient with an electronically commutated motor (ECM) for the blower fan motor and a variable-speed drive (VFD) on the condensing unit. The new outdoor unit for cooling has an SEER of 18.
Window Upgrades
The building contained 31 single-paned operable windows. Twenty-one of the windows were equipped with half a storm pane: half screen on the outside, six windows had full storm panes, and four windows had no storm pane at all. Many of the windows were cracked and the storm panes were not installed properly. This project included a full energy-efficient window replacement.
Old upstairs window.
New Upstairs window.
Old basement window.
New basement window
Insulation Upgrades
The project also included increasing the insulation levels throughout the building. The above-grade walls and attic contained an estimated insulation value of R-11. The blown-in cellulose insulation in the attic was not spread evenly and there was no insulation in the roof structure. The basement exterior walls are concrete only with no insulation.
Basement insulation.
Lighting Upgrades
The owner also replaced the halogen track lighting fixtures with new LED flat panel fixtures that are more energy efficient and provide a better quality of light, with a longer service life.
Old track lighting.
LED fixture.
