Rebuild Louisiana

What is Rebuild Louisiana?

Rebuild Louisiana is a statewide effort to renovate buildings, improve energy efficiency, and reduce energy waste. Rebuild Louisiana partners make communities stronger by stimulating economic growth, creating jobs, saving money, and improving the environment.

In Louisiana, the Rebuild effort helps interested parties identify ways to save money and provides assistance in finding financing, if needed.

Rebuild Louisiana is part of a multi-state U.S. Department of Energy effort called Rebuild America. All across the nation, hundreds of Rebuild partners, locally elected officials, energy professionals, building owners and operators, utilities, financial experts and community organizations are working together to assist each other in a time tested way of improving business operations.

How Can Your Operation Become More Energy Efficient?

You can save a lot of money when you improve energy efficiency and reduce energy waste. The savings come from lowered monthly utility bills, and it doesn't take long for these savings to add up.

There is a good chance the costs of any energy efficiency improvements you make will be recovered in as little as two or three years, and sometimes even less. Energy minimization strategies can also have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Many businesses can reduce energy consumption by 25 percent or more, simply by upgrading to newer technology such as replacing lighting or making other minor improvements in a building.

How Do You Find Out Where The Savings Are?

First, contact the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Based on your specific needs, we will suggest options available to you from the state.

These options include: energy usage profiles, complete building energy analyses, lighting surveys, energy audits or other appropriate alternatives to identify energy cost saving opportunities.

Why Become a Rebuild Louisiana Partner?

Rebuild Louisiana partners receive numerous benefits and opportunities that are unavailable to others in Louisiana:

• Energy Audits: Whether the needed assessment is simple or complex, our office or other skilled professionals will provide appropriate technical assistance.
• Explanation of Audit Findings: The audit of your operation will identify options for saving energy and reducing costs. An energy professional will discuss those findings, as well as the estimated cost of any improvements.
• Access to Financing Options: An analysis of your needs is the first step in determining which financing alternatives are most favorable.
• Monitoring/Quality Control: With your cooperation, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Energy will monitor your project along the way to ensure that your organization is achieving the desired results.

Rebuild Louisiana Achievements

Rebuild Louisiana's action plan was followed very closely throughout the duration of our grant, and all of the targeted sectors are currently implementing energy conservation projects with our assistance. The individual partnerships that have been developed are now working very closely with our office to market energy conservation projects state wide. Consistent with the goals of our grant, our office is continuing to offer free energy audits, low-cost financing through the newly created Energy Fund, and technical assistance with document preparation and review, and measurement and verification assistance.

Our initial efforts were focused on the development of a support structure to provide public entities with a free analysis of their energy consumption to identify potential savings. Utilizing SEP funding, five state universities were awarded contracts to develop an energy management course that could be offered to engineering students who would then be trained to perform these energy audits. FEDS 4.0 energy audit software was provided to our office and the universities by FEMP, free of charge. The findings of these audits would then be incorporated into the scope of work to be included in the solicitation for proposals. Our office has developed a standard Request for Proposal, and is in the process of finalizing a standard performance contract document that public entities may utilize to implement their projects. Once a project is under development, we will assist with financing via our new and innovative Energy Fund, specifically designed to fund energy conservation projects. As the final step in the process, we assist our clients with measurement and verification of results, which we are reporting in the following section.

Our program has really begun to come together, and we are just beginning to see the rewards for our efforts. Through December 31, 2001, we are reporting 6,506,069 sq ft of building space in various stages of project completion. At a total investment of $12,740,667, our clients are saving approximately $1,930,557, and 161,785 MMBTU's annually.

Not included in that total are several projects under development that will be financed by the Energy Fund. For the first annual, open enrollment period (January - March) we have received assistance requests for $50 million worth of projects that will be publicly bid this year. These projects go through a lengthy process that, from start to finish, can take over a year to culminate in a signed contract. As contracts are executed, our office will continue to report results to Rebuild America as a partner, and to SEP under the Energy Fund program.