Through public-private partnerships, the City of Bremerton's Public Utilities department was able to quickly upgrade their wastewater facility to run more efficiently and save the City money.
Wastewater management is an essential but energy intensive process for public facilities. The wastewater treatment process involves non-stop energy usage from the pumps, motors and other machinery. For this reason, a small increase in efficiency can have a huge impact on overall energy use and cost. The City of Bremerton was looking for a way to reduce the cost and impact of their treatment process.
“Everything in here is driven from electricity. You have pumps, motors that you have to move the material around in the treatment plant. So everything is running constantly, it never shuts down." - Chal Martin, Director of Bremerton Public Utilities
Public-Private Partnerships. Through a partnership with Trane, an Energy Services Company (ESCO), and the State of Washington Department of Enterprise Services (DES), the City of Bremerton was able to utilize the Energy Services Performance Contracting (ESPC) program to develop a program to optimize the City’s capital improvement dollars, maximize available utility incentives and compete and win a WA State Dept of Commerce Energy Efficiency grant to install a new and more efficient primary effluent pump system at the City’s wastewater treatment plant.
Economic Sense. While the total cost of the project is over $3 million, the City of Bremerton will be cash flow positive by year five. This comes out to an expected savings of $125,000 annually in energy alone. Additionally, because of Trane’s industry expertise, the project timeline from initial contract to completion will be less than a year. This in turn allows the City of Bremerton to complete a critical infrastructure improvement, which without the partnership would have taken several years to complete, using substantially more capital dollars and city resources.
Key players:
Bremerton Public Utilities - featuring Chal Martin, Director; and Pat Coxon, Wastewater Manager
Trane - Energy Retrofit Partner
Trane, a business of Ingersoll Rand, improves the performance of facilities around the world. Trane solutions optimize indoor environments with a broad portfolio of energy efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, building and contracting services, parts support and advanced control for homes and commercial buildings. More specifically, Trane’s expertise in renewable and sustainable solutions is fundamental for wastewater treatment facilities. Ingersoll Rand is a $14 billion global business committed to a world of sustainable progress and enduring results. For more information, visit ingersollrand.com or trane.com.
Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC)
NEEC is a non-profit trade association of the energy efficiency industry. NEEC member companies provide energy efficiency products and services and assist in the development and implementation of energy efficiency programs. NEEC advocates an affordable, energy efficient future for commercial, industrial and residential customers.
