SMUD’s commercial energy-savings programs have helped ‘thousands’ of regional businesses
The Sacramento Bee, June 25, 2015. Image credit: fancycrave1
Parks has seen energy-efficiency technology evolve dramatically over 25 years, to the point where SMUD now offers a long list of cost-saving energy options to businesses ranging from mom-and-pop stores to large industrial enterprises.
Where energy-saving programs for businesses were once an attitude – signs urging employees to turn off lights or office equipment before going home at night – it’s now a blizzard of tangible products. The extensive menu includes automatic power shut-off devices, solar systems, cool roofs, computerized climate control/lighting systems, energy-efficient appliances, plug load sensors and LED lighting.
SMUD also has worked with RagingWire Data Centers, believed to be the utility’s largest customer, on energy-efficient power, cooling and control systems. Improvements at 500,000 square feet of RagingWire space in Natomas include motion-activated lighting systems, LED lighting, water chillers, and variable-speed fans and pumps.
In March, RagingWire earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification for its Sacramento facility and its 150,000-square-foot facility in Ashburn, Va. Certification signifies that the data centers perform in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meet efficiency performance standards set by the EPA.