Over the past decade or so, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have been discussed extensively in business circles the world over. Unfortunately, the topic has been overly politicized, owing to the increasingly polarized nature of society. However, at its core, ESG is balancing various aspects of good corporate citizenship with financial performance, according to Evolution Sustainability Group, a full-service energy management, engineering, and sustainability consulting firm.
The firm says that, at a micro level, it’s about satisfying clients’ financial and sustainability needs. At a macro level, it’s considering the environmental and societal impact in how it does business. Evolution Sustainability Group is composed of three individual but related divisions, namely Evolution Energy Partners, Evolution Engineering Partners, and Evolution ESG Partners.
Founded in 2015 by CEO Chuck Hurchalla, the company’s stated mission is to advise, design, procure, and build solutions that provide measured value to its clients’ sustainable footprint, through offering best-in-class sustainability, energy efficiency, energy procurement, and commodity risk management services.
Hurchalla shared several of Evolution Sustainability Group’s projects, where it proposed various energy conservation measures (ECMs) to help clients save on energy costs as well as reduce their environmental footprints. The ECMs were proposed and priced based on a design/build turnkey basis, where Evolution proposes to handle the full implementation and take responsibility for all equipment, labor, waste removal, recycling, utility incentives, permits, etc.
College in Pennsylvania
For this project, Evolution proposed six ECMs, namely upgrading to LED lighting, occupancy-based dorm room thermostats, demand-controlled ventilation for the kitchen hoods, temperature sensors for walk-in refrigeration and freezers, EV charging stations, and a 3.3MW ground-mounted solar panel array. This resulted in total annual savings of over $247,000, with the project paying back after just 3.25 years. It will also reduce the property’s carbon footprint by more than 76 million pounds of CO2 annually.
Multi-family apartment building in Maryland
Evolution conducted an American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Level 2-equivalent audit of a 6-story student housing apartment in Maryland. The property, which was built in 1965 and has 153,000 square feet of floor space, consumes 925,938.5 kWh of electricity annually. Evolution proposed eight ECMs, such as the adoption of LED lighting, occupancy-based thermostats, rooftop solar panels, balancing the water flow rates of showers and sinks, and replacing the insulation of the hot water tanks and piping. The net project cost to implement the six recommended measures was $225,565, after utility incentives and grants. Total annual savings if the conservation measures are implemented exceed $111,000 dollars (including $4,769 in annual operational expense savings), resulting in the project paying back in two years’ time. If creative financing strategies are applied, it could actually result in an immediate positive cash flow of more than $57,000 annually while preserving critical capital funds.
Full-service hotel (part of global chain)
For this four-story, 196,258 square-foot hotel, Evolution identified eight ECMs, as well as highlighting the various mechanical systems across the property that were determined
to be in need of upgrade, fixing, and/or replacement. Some of the ECMs were also used in the two previously mentioned projects, but one unique recommendation for the hotel was the implementation of a liquid pool cover and optimization of pool pump operation. A liquid pool cover is a one-molecule-thick layer of alcohol, dispersed evenly by calcium hydroxide, which sits on top of the water of a swimming pool. This layer reduces water evaporation, which is a major cause of water heat loss. This technology has been approved by the FDA and EPA for use in swimming, as well as by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for competition use. The technology significantly reduces energy, water, and maintenance costs, contributing to the project’s annual savings of over $123,000.
“When some people hear ESG, they think it’s all about doing good, like planting trees or donating to charity,” Hurchalla says. “However, it is much more than that. Our services help clients balance their financial performance with their environmental and social goals. My background is in energy and finance, while our ESG team are experts in environmental sustainability, diversity & inclusion, and other aspects of ESG. These varying perspectives balance each other, resulting in increased valuation, better business performance, and a positive impact on society and the environment as a whole.”
Media contact:
Name: Andy Koehler
Email: [email protected]
