Case Studies and Whitepapers

Bert Basics Whitepaper: Air Cleaner Control with Metasys® Integration

School districts and other commercial buildings with air cleaners cut operating expenses by half, while achieving clean air delivery targets using Bert’s Plug Load Control Solution integrated into Metasys®.  Air cleaners are controlled and monitored in coordination with other large building loads, including the Central AHU.  Metasys® automatically turns units off when buildings are empty and restarts them before staff arrives in the morning. In addition, the reduction in operating hours extends product life and defers HEPA filter replacements – leading to additional savings.

A typical school district with 2,500 850 CFM air cleaners scheduled off nights and weekends, saves over $1,787,500.  The estimated payback is under 4 months, without taking filter savings into consideration.

Highlights

• 64% reduction in Annual Electrical Expense – assuming 3,132 operating hours/year
• Annual kWh savings: 11,171,875 kWh

Plug Load Case Studies: Magnolia School District

Magnolia School District knows overnight standby loads waste money. Therefore, plug load control was an important part of the district’s performance contract. 520 Bert Smart Plugs were installed on vending machines, printers, copiers, projectors, smartboards and Smart TVs.

The TVs were not originally included in the project scope. However, Bert Support analyzed the district’s standby loads and determined that the TV’s were one of the district’s largest overnight loads. Once the IT department understood the additional savings potential, they approved the addition of the TVs.

As a result, Magnolia’s annual plug load energy savings increased by 35%.  MSD’s savings went from 51,875 kWh to 69,901 kWh each year.

Project Highlights

• 31% reduction in Baseline Plug Load Energy Usage
• Annual kWh savings: 69,901 kWh

Plug Load Case Studies: Waterbury Public Schools

Plug load control was included in the WPS performance contract because Bert offered a unique combination of rapid payback and quick deployment.  WPS installed over 1,100 Bert Smart Plugs throughout 29 schools.

The speedy payback was the determining factor in the decision to include plug load control. Bert delivered the fastest payback out of all savings measures implemented at Waterbury. Specifically, the payback for plug load control was 3 times faster than the project average.

In addition, Bert installed quickly and easily.  Bert used cloud-based audit and installation tools to complete the entire project in under 8 weeks.

Project Highlights

• Simple Payback (net of incentives): 4.2 Years
• Overall Project Average (net of incentives): 14.1 Years
• Annual kWh Savings: 201,247 kWh

Plug Load Case Studies: Hoke County School District

HCS counts on Bert to provide measurable and verifiable energy savings.  Hoke has over 600 Bert Smart Plugs installed on vending machines, charging carts, projectors, smartboards, printers and water coolers.

The district uses several Bert products.  First, devices are turned on and off with Bert’s Control software.  Second, the district collects real-time measurement data using Bert Measurement. Third, Bert Analysis creates optimized schedules and savings verification reports.  Finally, projectors are controlled with Bert Threshold. This software keeps sensitive equipment like projectors from turning off until the cool down cycle is complete.

Project Highlights

• Annual kWh savings: 90,000 kWh

Plug Load Case Studies: Soldier Field

Soldier Field needed a solution to automatically control 600 plug load devices in the stadium’s luxury suites. To save energy, stadium personnel made multiple trips to and from each suite during every event to manually plug and unplug refrigerators and TVs.

After Bert was installed, devices are remotely turned on and off from the Facilities office.  Soldier Field continues to save energy, but the need for staff to travel back and forth has been eliminated.

Project Highlight

• Annual labor savings: $24,000

Plug Load Case Studies: Fairfield Area School District

Fairfield Area School District eliminated overnight standby loads using Bert.  Bert lets FASD power plug load devices off nights and weekends when buildings were unoccupied.

Without Bert, plug load devices ran all day, every day.  In other words, the district’s classroom electronics, breakroom and office equipment were powered on 8,760 hours, yet buildings were only occupied about 3,000 hours.

With Bert, FASD turns devices off when buildings are empty.  Devices are automatically powered back on before staff arrives at work.  Hours vary by building, but most loads are turned off about 5,700 hours each year.

As a result, the district’s baseline energy usage was lowered by 65%.

Project Highlight

• 65% reduction in baseline energy usage