‘Water-Energy Future’ Workshop: Overcoming Obstacles to Efficiency in Water and Wastewater Facilities

On Nov 27, 2012, the Alliance to Save Energy partnered with Danfoss North America and the Water Environment Federation to convene a group of experts from public, private, and nonprofit sectors to discuss barriers and solutions to advancing energy efficiency in the water and wastewater treatment industry. This Water-Energy Future Workshop discussed the policy landscape, financing, and technology barriers, as well as opportunities and solutions in the water and energy space.

With between 35% and 50% of all municipal electricity usage dedicated to water and wastewater treatment (representing 3%-4% of national electricity consumption), addressing the vast potential of water-energy efficiency is an opportunity that cannot be discounted.  Brian Castelli, executive vice president for programs and development at the Alliance to Save Energy, noted that energy consumption and water loss in most water and wastewater systems could be reduced by at least 25% through cost-effective efficiency actions.

Several experts gave presentations on the policy, technology, and financing of energy efficiency, including innovative ways that private financing allows wastewater treatment operators to capital improvements in a revenue-starved environment.

After the presentations, workshop participants split into inter-disciplinary groups to identify solutions to political, financial, and technological barriers, and presented their findings. Key findings included:

• Technologies exist today to meet net zero goals, but are not being deployed due to lack of incentives. Advancing these net zero goals is not a matter of accessible technology but rather motivation and incentive. According to Elena Bailey, director of business development for Ovivo Water, “technologies exist today to achieve net-zero energy and meet existing water quality regulations, but there are currently not enough incentives for operators to implement them – their primary objective is to meet water quality regulations.” John Masters, Vice President of water for Danfoss, explained that water and wastewater facilities use more than 35% of total municipal energy use and existing technologies such as variable frequency drives can save a significant amount of energy for municipal water and wastewater agencies. 
• Funding upgrades are critical barriers for financially strapped municipalities. Two financing opportunities were explored at the workshop: pension plan investments and performance contracts. Some pension plans are looking at investments in water and wastewater agencies because they feel that energy efficiency projects in these agencies offer good long-term returns with low-risk investments that are higher than municipal bond interest rates. Performance contracts facilitate investment by having a third-party energy service company (ESCO) guarantee energy savings. Greg Miller, solutions development leader for the Eastern U.S. at Johnson Controls, pointed out that state legislation for performance contracting varies widely, and many states do not specifically identify water and wastewater treatment as an area of opportunity. 
• Proposed solutions to overcome these obstacles include:
  • ​Standardizing legislations and codes regarding ESCOs,
  • Conducting policy outreach with a common voice among industry stakeholders,
  • Improving the permitting process, and
  • Defining and articulating the economic value of energy efficiency.

In addition, maintaining the Green Project Reserve (GPR) within the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Funds would greatly facilitate energy efficiency implementation in this sector. Applying the GPR to other federal grants for the water/wastewater treatment sector could yield even more significant results.

The outcome of the workshop will be compiled into a comprehensive report and presented at the Water Environment Federation Energy & Water Conference in Nashville, Tenn., in May 2013.