Overview

Facility Strategies Group (FSG) worked with Park City Communities (PCC) to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different electrification options for heating, cooling, and DHW systems across seven sites, while also exploring solar installation potential to offset the electrified load. PCC sites have high electric rates compared with the gas utility rates which makes electrifying heating systems a challenge. FSG identified energy savings in six sites including retrofit opportunities that resulted in more energy-efficient facilities. The analysis included three redevelopment sites, Harborview, Hanover Street, and the warehouse, as well as four EPC sites with frozen baselines: PT Barnum, Trumbull, Fireside, and Stratford. FSG conducted a comprehensive analysis of electrification options for heating systems, including Cold Climate Packaged Terminal Heat Pump (PTHP), Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP), Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF), Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP), Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH). At Harborview Tower, a senior housing complex, the tower was scheduled for renovation with a total cost of $35.6M. A PTAC unit was proposed in the renovation proposal for heating and cooling. But FSG identified that the installation of a Cold Climate PTHP, or a VRF, or a geothermal heat pump, or CHP system coupled with a geothermal heat pump would result in lower installation costs and lower operating costs due to their high efficiency which will result in at least $5M savings over the period of 20 years.

At the Hanover Street site, FSG analyzed the proposed Condensing Gas Boiler in the design to compare it with VRF and Geothermal systems, and FSG found that electrifying the heating systems would result in higher installation costs and annual utility bills but will lower the carbon emissions by 66%. For the Warehouse, VRF had the lowest installation cost, but FSG identified that the savings achieved by installing a GSHP would exceed those of VRF in five years, making it a more economically attractive option. Additionally, installing a solar system on the roof would offset approximately 77% of the building's combined energy usage for electric base load and the proposed GSHP system. For the EPC sites, the heating systems at the four sites are at the end of their useful life. FSG analyzed options with the goal of making solar offset the electrification of gas heating systems, and it was found that any conversion of space heating and DHW systems from natural gas to electricity would result in a significant net increase in annual utility costs due to the frozen baselines, but it was found that for Stratford Site, solar can offset both the electric base load and the HPWH combined. In addition to identifying electrification options, FSG installed a total of 1.4 MW of solar PV capacity across all sites, with a total cost of $2.8M and an annual energy generation of 1,774 MWh, which translates to $380.5K savings annually and 410 emissions reductions of MtCO2-e annually. FSG provided energy auditing, design review, and conceptual designs to ensure that each site achieved optimal energy efficiency.