The rich culture of the Town of Reading, 10 miles from Boston, goes back to 1644. Of late, soaring cost of fuel, water and energy and limited funds for recuperation forced the Town of Reading and Reading Public Schools to seek an energy services company (ESCO) to promote an undertaking, find funding, take care of construction and obtain results.
Along with the state-recognized NORESCO, a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies , the town identified opportunities for system upgrades, new device installation, and various power-saving methods in all its communal buildings. The enhancements costing $5.5 million have already showed considerable decrease in energy and water use in various buildings that have helped in sustaining the environment. NORESCO, a large U.S. energy service organization, is an expert in designing, building, funding and operating energy efficiency ventures, performance contracting and central energy plants.
For the Town of Reading, NORESCO planned the upgrade of the current building systems, such as boilers and chillers, installing new paraphernalia for solar heating, installing power-saving lighting, fixing occupancy-sensitive sensors in buildings, fixing low-flow or low-flush devices, etc. Also, a centrally managed web-based system helped in operating the buildings. By this, issues were soon identified and fixed. In one year, the improvements saved the Town of Reading over $340,000 in yearly power costs and also lessened emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides considerably. Most of the venture is funded by energy and water savings and also by grants and incentives by the local municipal electric utility and national grid and funds from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act via the Department of Energy Resources. The Town leaders have various future plans for further improvement.
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