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== Coast Central Credit Union == | == Coast Central Credit Union == | ||
The | The [http://www.coastccu.org/index.html Coast Central Credit Union] is a financial institution in Eureka and the surrounding areas. Coast Central Credit Union has 19 ATMS and 11 member service branches throughout Humboldt County, and the Eureka branch worked with Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) in getting light retrofits for the building which over time have saved money and CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.<ref>http://www.coastccu.org/locator/index.html</ref> | ||
[[Image:1118092239.jpg|thumb|right|Eureka Branch|300px]] | [[Image:1118092239.jpg|thumb|right|Eureka Branch|300px]] |
Revision as of 17:32, 10 December 2009
Coast Central Credit Union
The Coast Central Credit Union is a financial institution in Eureka and the surrounding areas. Coast Central Credit Union has 19 ATMS and 11 member service branches throughout Humboldt County, and the Eureka branch worked with Redwood Coast Energy Authority (RCEA) in getting light retrofits for the building which over time have saved money and CO2 emissions.[1]
Redwood Coast Energy Authority
The Redwood Coast Energy Authority' mission statement says: "The Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s (RCEA) purpose is to develop and implement sustainable energy initiatives that reduce energy demand, increase energy efficiency, and advance the use of clean resources available in the region" from the RCEA web page. All of RCEA’s funding comes from contracts and grants, bringing resources to Humboldt County that would not otherwise be available. The RCEA currently has projects to retrofit local businesses' office lighting in Northern Humboldt county and in April 2008 worked with the Coast Central Credit Union (CT5 Talk about the retrofit and objective rather than the business or RCEA).[2]
The Retrofit
In April 2008 the RCEA retrofitted the Coast Central Credit Union's (CCCU) office space lighting and replaced the existing lights with brighter and more energy efficient light fixtures in the office.(CT6 Explain the lighting and which kind in greater detail)
Costs
The installation cost for the light upgrade made by RCEA was $2,176.19. Coast Central Credit Union was given an energy saving rebate of $919.86 from RCEA, the Coast Central Credit Union ended paying $1,256.33 for the retrofit.
Estimated Savings from the Retrofits
The RCEA estimated that the Coast Central Credit Union would benefit in the following ways:
- They would save $797.70 per year
- Their CO2 emissions reduced by 2,487 lbs/year
- They would reduce energy use by 4,784 kWh/year
- They would reduce power use by 1.854 kW
Retrofit Outcomes
The retrofitted office had According to the site manager Gerry Davis "The retrofit was a great success! The new lights are wonderful, now it is always bright enough in the office." (W10 Make topic sentence!) At the office they are pleased with the new lights because the older lights that they had been using "were not bright enough at times" and now they can always "easily work under bright new lights" commented Gerry Davis. Light use habits did not change after the retrofit, lights are turned on from 9-5 and during that time they are more content with the lights than prior to the retrofit.
Look at the difference
In the year before RCEA's retrofit the average energy used by the coast central credit union was about 2800 kWh(kiloWatt hours) each month. Over the months since the retrofit the energy consumption at the office has steadily decreased to 1360 kWh, as shown in Figure 1, and as a result the CCCU saved $191 from last August's energy bill. ( C2 This paragraph is not describing the table to right).
Actual Savings from the Retrofits
Table 1 shows the results a year after the lighting retrofit.
Table 1 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Savings | Estimated | Actual | |
Energy | 4,784 kWh/year | 8,200 kWh/year | |
CO2 | 2,487 lbs/year | 4,255 lbs/year | |
Money | $797.70/year | $1,367.00/year |
Energy
As seen in Table 2, the total energy used in April 2007 to April 2008 was 37,150 kWh. The energy used between April 2008 and April 2009 which was after the light upgrade was 28,960 KWh. The difference of the two gave the total amount energy saved of 8,200 kWh. This value is actually much higher than the projected wattage reduction from the retrofit. The RCEA projected 4,784KWh to be saved(W12). Figure 2 shows the amount of kiloWatt hour used from Septemeber 2006 to June 2009.(the table is not useful)
CO2 saved
The RCEA states the carbon dioxide to energy ratio is 0.519 lbs CO2 per KWh. Multiplying 0.519 lbs CO2 per KWh with the total energy used (8,200KWh) produces the reduction in pounds of CO2 which is 4,255 pounds of CO2.
Money saved
Using the RCEA's average price per kWh of $0.17 and multiplying it to the amount of kWh saved is $1,367/year and $114 a month, which is a greater savings from the projected RCEA estimates. At this rate of saving it will only take 11 months for the Coast Central Credit Union to make back the money invested into new light fixtures. (Total cost of the retrofit/monthly savings=Time to break even~$1,256.33/$114/month=11 months)