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Philadelphia — Jan. 5, 2015 — Cathedral Village, a Philadelphia-based continuing care retirement community, has appointed New Jersey-based energy management and combined heat and power (CHP) specialist ENER-G Rudox Inc., in conjunction with clean energy specialists Blue Sky Power, MCFA Global, and Ray Angelini Inc., to design, engineer, construct, and finance a sustainable makeover of its facility.
The multi-million-dollar energy infrastructure improvements to the 40-acre campus will include the installation of a highly efficient 265 kW natural gas ENER-G Rudox CHP system that will provide heat and electricity for the facility. Additionally, the project will include comprehensive lighting upgrades throughout the facility and the replacement of six rooftop heating and cooling units.
The entire project will be financed using ENER-G Rudox’s "Energy Services Agreement." Under this 20-year arrangement, Cathedral Village will be responsible for $0 in up-front investment capital, and will reduce its utility electric bill by over $145,000 annually. The upgrades will reduce the facility’s carbon footprint by about 350 metric tons per year, the equivalent benefit of removing 74 passenger cars from the road, or the carbon dioxide that would be offset by 287 acres of U.S. forest in one year.
“Assisted living and senior care facilities are often excellent candidates for clean energy projects, but many facilities are deterred by the assumption that executing these projects requires a large initial capital expenditure” said Blue Sky Power CEO Ben Parvey. “By utilizing alternative finance structures, such as ENER-G Rudox’s ‘Energy Services Agreement,’ many institutional, commercial, and industrial facilities can realize the operational, economic, and environmental benefits of energy systems upgrades, without the capital burden typically associated with such endeavors.”
The Cathedral Village project received support from both state and local sources, including a $500,000 grant from Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Financing Authority. In addition, PECO will contribute $123,500 through its Smart-On Site Program and PGW will be offering an attractive long-term cogen gas service contract to the facility.
“Executing these types of projects is truly a team effort, and the contributions from the Commonwealth Financing Authority, PECO, and PGW were critical in allowing this project to move forward,” said ENER-G Rudox President Ryan Goodman. “However, at the end of the day, the most important criteria we evaluate is the strength of our client’s decision-making team, as our ‘Energy Services Agreement’ represents a long-term partnership. We couldn’t be more impressed with Cathedral Village’s team, and we are tremendously excited to work closely with them over the next 20 years.”
