Southwestern Ontario’s Bruce County Contracts with Ecosystem on Energy Retrofit

July 26, 2016

Ecosystem is the winning bidder to provide integrated energy performance contracting (IEPC) services in four Bruce County buildings.

The $3.4 million project will generate annual energy savings of $273,288, and is expected to receive $251,800 in incentives.

The county issued a public request for proposals (RFP) from qualified IEPC firms in September 2015.

“Our Evaluation Committee reviewed the proposals submitted and decided on Ecosystem because their proposal delivered the highest overall value,” explains Gary Gray, Purchasing Manager at County of Bruce. “This project will reduce energy and water consumption, while using future savings to pay for the capital expenses incurred.”

The participating buildings include:

• The Administration Building at 30 Park St., Walkerton, ON

• Brucelea Haven Long Term Care Home at 41 McGivern St., Walkerton, ON

• Gateway Haven Long Term Care Home at 671 Frank St., Wiarton, ON

• The Museum & Cultural Centre at 33 Victoria St. N., Southhampton, ON

Ecosystem’s model converts energy waste to capital dollars, so that the county pays less to the utility and those savings are invested in energy efficiency and the renewal of aging mechanical assets. The energy conservation measures to be implemented include a lighting retrofit, building automation system (BAS) upgrades, a micro combined heat and power plant, and various equipment replacements and upgrades. The project also includes a stakeholder education and awareness program that will be provided by Ecosystem’s dedicated Education and Awareness team.

Both Ecosystem and the county have agreed to an iterative contract, which allows the county to review and approve the project phase by phase. Ecosystem engineers are currently completing the detailed study, and construction is expected to start in early 2017.

Ecosystem is a design-build engineering firm that has retrofitted over 1,000 buildings in North America. The company’s projects have generated more than $200 million in cumulative savings and helped avoid 360,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Ecosystem’s buildings are more energy efficient, less expensive to operate, and are better for the environment.