Munich Reinsurance America. Inc., Princeton, N.J.
Munich Reinsurance, Inc. is one of the world’s largest reinsurers. Our industry has a vested financial interest in the effects of climate change. On a global scale, Munich Re has committed to becoming an internationally carbon neutral company by 2015.
In 2007, before the Princeton campus began its aggressive Energy Reduction projects, the campus had an average annual electrical usage of 15,899,568 kWh/year and water consumption of 11,276,589 gallons/year.
The campus buildings were built before the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and were not designed to be energy efficient. In 2006, we began a Sustainability Master Plan (the Plan) to make improvements in efficiency. The Plan was created over a 12-month period based on metrics and guidelines established in:
The buildings were initially benchmarked using the EPA Portfolio Manager and had scores of:
23 (Plaza I), 15 (Plaza II), 01 (Plaza III), and 01 (Plaza IV).
The Plan was created with a goal of achieving an Energy Star rating in all four buildings and meeting the LEED Energy and Atmosphere “Minimum Energy Performance” prerequisite.
1. Why did you choose a particular course of action?
In the research phase of the Plan, the Corporate Facilities team identified projects and services, through peer discussions, vendor inquiries, classes and product expositions at numerous events including NFMT, AEE, GLOBACON, BOMA, IFMA, and GREENBUILD, that would provide the greatest energy savings, including lighting upgrades, a lighting controls system, a new Building Automation System (BAS), chiller plant replacements, and VFD installations throughout the campus.
The team compiled averaged "building-energy" models from ten years of utility bills and maintained the models throughout the project up to the present.
The team also performed initial calculations in-house to create the energy models for budgeting consideration. After initial in-house modeling showed favorable results, the team employed an engineering firm to create more detailed energy models (utilizing TRANE TRACE 700 energy modeling software) to validate savings.
2. What challenges did you face along the way, and how did you overcome them?
Creating accurate energy usage and reduction estimates to gain approval for funding projects was challenging. The existing BAS employed very limited monitoring and the team was required to compile averaged "building-energy" models from ten years of utility bills. The team performed the initial calculations in-house to create the energy models for budgeting consideration; and then employed an engineering firm to create more detailed energy models for the campus to validate savings.
With energy modeling validating savings, the leveraging of rebates and tax credits, end of useful life replacements, ROI analysis provided Management incentive to fund Munich Re’s Sustainable projects.
3. What was the outcome of the process, i.e., the achievement?
The initial phase of the Plan included the integration of the United Technologies ALC WebCTRL BAS, the replacement of (2) 150-ton chillers, and the installation of multiple VFD’s. These projects were started in the conceptual stage in 2007 and were completed by July of 2010. Lighting upgrades and the installation of a centrally automated IP based lighting controls system in the four buildings were completed in May 2011. By the end of 2010, electrical consumption had been reduced to 10.5MWh/year, and the campus ended 2011 at 9,399,600 kWh (a reduction of almost 41% from the baseline).
Additionally, during that same time period, improved irrigation controls, waterless urinals, 1.28 gpf toilets, touchless faucets, and improved cooling tower chemical controls reduced yearly water usage on campus to 7,854,030 gallons (a reduction of almost 31%).
In August 2012, as part of the second phase of the Plan, construction was completed on a 2.47 mW solar canopy system over the Plazas I and II parking lots with over 100,000 cubic feet of storm water recharge chambers installed below the parking lots. The solar canopy system will provide approximately 3,122,077 kWh in its first year.
In April 2014, the replacement of the Plaza I Cooling Plant is complete with an estimated energy savings of 200,000 kWh/year.
Currently proceeding with the replacement of all transformers on site that are between 15 kva and 150 kva (a total of 57 transformers). The expected energy savings for the replacement of these 25+ year old transformers are approximately 402,153 kWh per year.
Refer to attached Performance Dashboards for Energy, Water, Renewable Energy purchases and recycling summarizing 2013 Munich Re results:
Energy: 60% energy reduction from 10 year baseline average
Water: 46% water consumption reduced from 5-year baseline average.
Campus Renewable Energy: 75% renewable certificates with increase procurement to 100% beginning January 2014.
Recycling: 70.5% recycled during performance period Sept. 2012 – September 2013
Paul Lupica- Head of Facilities
Chris Walinski- Building Operations Manager
Kim Hamm- Project Manger / Technical Services Consultant
Patrick Januszka- Project Management Manager
John Paduano- Craftsperson Manager Building Operations
Irma Gomez Sarafin- Project Manager
Bob Dusak- Craftsperson Supervisor
Rich Binz- Craftsperson Mechanic
Daniel Carter- Craftsperson Mechanic
Neil Devine- Craftsperson Mechanic
Chad Higgins- Craftsperson Mechanic
Kevin Lyle- Craftsperson Mechanic
Energy Consumption (Powerpoint)
Water Consumption (Powerpoint)
Recycling (Powerpoint)
Campus Renewable Energy Consumption (Powerpoint)
Energy and Carbon Reduction Plan (Powerpoint)
