John A Shonder

Comparing Life-Cycle Costs of ESPCs and Appropriations-Funded Energy Projects: An Update to the 2002 Report

A study was sponsored by FEMP in 2001 - 2002 to develop methods to compare life-cycle costs of federal energy conservation projects carried out through energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) and projects that are directly funded by appropriations. The study described in this report follows up on the original work, taking advantage of new pricing data on equipment and on

Geothermal heat pumps at Fort Polk: Early results

500 million worth of Super ESPC projects awarded since the end of FY 2001. The methods developed to compare life-cycle costs of ESPCs and directly funded energy projects are based on the following tasks: (1) Verify the parity of equipment prices in ESPC vs. directly funded projects; (2) Develop a representative energy conservation project; (3) Determine representative cycle times for both ESPCs and appropriations-funded projects; (4) Model the representative energy project implemented through an ESPC and through appropriations funding; and (5) Calculate the life-cycle costs for each project.

Proof of concept of a magnetically coupled Stirling engine-driven heat pump

At Fort Polk, LA an entire city (4,003 military family housing units) is being converted to geothermal heat pumps (GHP) under a performance contract. At the same time other efficiency measures such as compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), low-flow water outlets, and attic insulation are being installed. If these contracts and this technology are to be used widely in US Department of Defense (DoD) facilities and other public buildings, better data from actual projects is the key. Being the first GHP project of this type and size, Fort Polk proved to be very challenging for all concerned. To get from RFP to start of construction took several years. This hard work by others created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address many of the due diligence issues that delayed the Fort Polk project. So that future projects can move faster, an evaluation has been undertaken to address the following barriers: absence of a documented large-scale demonstration of GHP energy, demand, and maintenance savings (a barrier to acceptance by federal customers, performance contractors, and investors); newness of large-scale facility capital renewal procurements at federal facilities under energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) or traditional appropriations (lack of case studies); and variability in current GHP design tools (increases risks and costs for federal customers, performance contractors, investors and designers). This paper presents early energy and demand savings results based on data collection through January 1996.

Field test of a new method for determining soil formation thermal conductivity and borehole resistance

A prototype magnetically-coupled Stirling engine-driven heat pump module has been designed and fabricated by Sunpower, Inc. under sponsorship of the US Department of Energy and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Preliminary testing indicates that the magnetic coupling is an effective means for transmitting power from a free-piston Stirling engine to a refrigerant compressor. Compared with other power transmission concepts, the magnetic coupling has relatively low cost, and will help make commercial development of Stirling-driven heat pumps more likely in the future.