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Philadelphia — Cathedral Village, a Philadelphia-based continuing care retirement community (CCRC), has completed a $3.2 million renovation project to upgrade its energy infrastructure at its 40-acre campus.
The project was spearheaded by 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 the facility.
“For continuing-care retirement communities like Cathedral Village, the opportunity exists to invest in energy infrastructure to lower the facility’s carbon footprint, while saving money at the same time,” said Ryan Goodman, president, ENER-G Rudox. “With these upgrades, including a new CHP system, Cathedral Village can achieve triple bottom-line benefits with economic, environmental, and operational savings.”
The infrastructure improvements were financed using ENER-G Rudox’s "Energy Services Agreement." Under this 20-year arrangement, Cathedral Village is responsible for $0 in up-front investment capital, and the infrastructure improvements are expected to save the community more than $145,000 annually through reductions in their utility electric bill.
“We’re excited about the undertaking of this renovation and could not have completed this project without our energy consultants, ENER-G Rudox, Blue Sky Power, MCFA Global, and Ray Angelini,” said Steve Proctor, CEO, Presbyterian Senior Living. “It will not only enhance the lives of our residents by providing a more comfortable environment, but also allow us to reinvest the savings into the community to ensure we’re always providing the most advanced, highest-quality care.”
The clean-energy project positions Cathedral Village as the most green and sustainable CCRC in Philadelphia County. Installation of a 265 kW natural gas ENER-G Rudox Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system will provide more efficient heat and electricity. Improvements also include comprehensive lighting upgrades throughout the facility and the replacement of six rooftop heating and cooling units.
The upgrades are expected to 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, $123,500 from PECO’s Smart-On Site Program, and an attractive long-term cogeneration gas service contract with PGW to further save on energy costs.
“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,” Goodman said. “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 are tremendously excited to work closely with the foresighted Cathedral Village team over the next 20 years.”
Cathedral Village is affiliated with Dillsburg, Pa.-based Presbyterian Senior Living.
ENER-G Rudox Inc., as part of ENER-G Cogen International Ltd (ECI), develops, manufactures, delivers, finances and maintains energy efficient and renewable energy solutions, generally based around state-of-the-art cogeneration technology, for the North American market. For more information, visit www.energ-rudox.com.
