City Energy Management Program

posted in Chamber of Commerce on March 8, 2016

The City Energy Management Program (CEMP) at IEDA has been assisting cities in identifying energy efficiency opportunities, including the Main Street communities of Bloomfield, Charles City, Dubuque, Elkader, Guthrie Center, Le Mars, Mason City, and Waverly. IEDA has been working with your city and two Regional Energy Managers (REM) to provide assistance to cities to develop an energy management action plan and implement energy efficiency retrofits on public buildings. Given the success of this program, IEDA and Main Street Iowa seek to offer similar assistance to businesses housed in buildings located in specific Main Street districts in cities which have already participated in CEMP. The Iowa State Energy Office (SEO) housed at the Iowa Economic Development Authority plans to submit a grant application to the US Department of Energy to build upon the success of the first round of CEMP work, with a pilot project for small business owners.
The opportunity to participate in this pilot project is only being offered to those Main Street communities that have participated in the CEMP program over the past two years. The pilot project would expand that service to independently owned businesses within your designated Main Street district. The goals for the pilot project are to assist buildings with the potential to achieve significant energy savings as a well as a commitment to making improvements, strengthen the economic position of downtown businesses, and provide models for other communities and businesses to learn from. We would like to select up to four Main Street communities to participate in the grant application and serve as pilot communities if awarded. Each community should select between 5 - 10 businesses who are interested in participating.

Click here for an application.

Pilot Project Requirements:

• Business must be an independently owned business or franchise, for-profit operation
• Business must be located within the designated Main Street district
• Fewer than 25 FTE employees
• Need to own the building the business is located in, or if leased, the building owner must agree to be involved and ensure the ability to make improvements moving forward
• Heavy energy users spending at least $500 a month or more on utilities (heating, cooling, electric)
• Desire to make energy efficiency improvements resulting from the technical assistance recommendations
• Intention to utilize any available rebates as well as their own resources to make some or all of the improvements
• Willingness to provide utility data on an ongoing basis to evaluate impacts of the improvements
• Local Main Street Program Director must agree to serve as local contact between business owners and the Regional Energy Managers for scheduling
• Pilot project is expected to last for two years
• Time commitment is estimated to be up to 2 hours per month

Selected businesses will receive one-on-one customized assistance from an experienced Regional Energy Manager that will:

• Review your building operation and maintenance procedures
• Work with you to establish building energy reduction goals
• Develop an energy efficiency action plan
• Identify cost-effective projects to reduce energy use and costs
• Provide training on energy management best practices appropriate for their operations
• Assist in implementing projects, including specifying purchases and identifying sources of funding
• Provide a method for tracking energy savings over time to gauge success
• Ensure understanding of and commitment to long-term energy savings

If your Main Street program is interested in consideration to participate in this pilot program, please complete the attached electronic application for each building owner and return them via email by March 18, 2016 to:

Robin Bostrom
Business Specialist
Main Street Iowa
robin.bostrom@iowa.gov
515.725.3053

The DOE grant application will be submitted this spring and if selected we anticipate the pilot project to begin in late fall 2016.

If you have additional questions please contact Robin Bostrom at 515-725-3053 or robin.bostrom@iowa.gov