Genesis
Decarbonization Plan
Client
Genesis of Ann Arbor
Year
2023
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
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Genesis of Ann Arbor operates a house of worship building that is home to St. Clare’ Episcopal Church and Temple Beth Emeth. The building hosts a Montessori preschool, religious school classes, community events, and other group meetings. Genesis’s leadership and building manager had near and long-term concerns for Inclination Engineering to address.
In the short term they were concerned with saving energy and maintaining healthy, high quality indoor air. Genesis’ long-term goal was to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040. Inclination Engineering provided a retrocommissioning study and created a decarbonization plan to address these goals.
Decarbonization Plan
The decarbonization plan consists of general descriptions of equipment modification or replacement tasks and a phased timeline of when each task should be completed. We conducted extensive site visits and reviewed existing drawings to determine the space available for new equipment, ducts, and pipes. The timeline prioritizes tasks addressing existing deficiencies. Tasks are then phased by when a piece of equipment will reach the end of its expected useful life span. The tasks in the decarbonization plan put Genesis on a path to converting its gas-fired equipment to ground source and air source heat pumps by 2040.
Retrocommissioning
During retrocommissioning, we discovered that the building’s residential style thermostats were operating the building’s ventilation continuously. We suggested thermostat replacement as an energy conservation measure to provide ventilation only during occupied hours. The measure is estimated to save $14,600 per year in utility costs, prequalified for $3,200 in utility rebates, and would pay for itself after the first year. We provided further energy savings by adjusting the boiler and pump programming.