News & Events

Introduction Energy Resources Integration (ERI) is thrilled to announce its partnership with the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium. This strategic alliance aims to revolutionize sustainable agriculture, particularly within the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry. ERI’s Senior Engineer, Gretchen Schimelpfenig, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of GLASE. By combining ERI’s expertise in CEA energy engineering with …

Energy Resources Integration’s Engineering Manager, Ethan Clifford, will be taking the stage again, this time virtually, to educate professionals on a holistic approach to pumping systems upgrades. This class will cover modernizations for both commercial and industrial facilities and will take place on March 22nd from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST. In the webinar, Clifford will be giving a …

Energy Resources Integration’s Engineering Manager, Ethan Clifford, will be taking the stage again, this time virtually, to educate professionals on a holistic approach to pumping systems upgrades. This class will cover modernizations for both commercial and industrial facilities and will take place on March 22nd from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST. In the webinar, Clifford will be giving a …

ERI is excited to announce our partnership with Willdan as we work together to facilitate the implementation of the California Energy Design Assistance Program (CEDA). The CEDA program, managed by Willdan, is the successor to the California Savings By Design energy efficiency program that many California based businesses are familiar with. In a nutshell the CEDA program is an energy …

At this year’s 31st annual conference for the Association of Energy Service Professionals (AESP) and presented virtually, ERI’s Engineering Manager Ethan Clifford will discuss strategies for benchmarking and remote data analytics during the era of COVID-19. On January 28th at 8:30am PT, the session will explore a tool that ERI has piloted and used to successfully identify energy savings potential …

Introduction Energy Resources Integration (ERI) is thrilled to announce its partnership with the Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering (GLASE) consortium. This strategic alliance aims to revolutionize sustainable agriculture, particularly within the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry. ERI’s Senior Engineer, Gretchen Schimelpfenig, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of GLASE. By combining ERI’s expertise in CEA energy engineering with …

ERI is proud to announce that our very own Brad Watterud has achieved Engineer-in-Training (EIT) Certification! What is EIT, you ask? To be EIT certified, an individual must have college-level engineering education and/or engineering-related work experience totaling three years, as well as demonstrating knowledge of a broad cross-section of engineering concepts by passing the six-hour Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Certification …

Last week energy efficiency professionals gathered for the annual Summer Study on Energy Efficiency, where the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy presents innovative ideas on the topic of Climate Solutions: Efficiency, Equity, and Decarbonization. This year’s conference features two papers with contributions from ERI senior engineer Gretchen Schimelpfenig. As utilities improve programs to increase indoor agriculture customer participation, …

Benjamin Franklin once said that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The old adage holds true in many facets of life, and is also applicable in the maintenance of your greenhouse or CEA facility. ERI’s senior engineer, Gretchen Schimelpfenig, PE recently published a well thought out article on how to develop a successful and effective operations …

Energy Resources Integration’s Engineering Manager, Ethan Clifford, P.E. will be joining Whitney Ray and Chris Castle as Water Conservation Panelists on August 3 at the 2022 Water Conservation Showcase. The cannabis industry has taken off in California but these grow facilities can demand a high volume of water and energy to thrive. Ethan and his team will highlight ways to …

Energy Resources Integration, LLC is excited to welcome Gretchen Schimelpfenig to the team as a Senior Energy Engineer! Gretchen will be recruiting customers and developing projects for ERI’s energy efficiency program implementation services, as well as bringing her expertise in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to accelerate sustainable facility design and construction. Gretchen has had a passion for architectural engineering for …

Energy Resources Integration’s Engineering Manager, Ethan Clifford, will be taking the stage again, this time virtually, to educate professionals on a holistic approach to pumping systems upgrades. This class will cover modernizations for both commercial and industrial facilities and will take place on March 22nd from 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM PST. In the webinar, Clifford will be giving a …

Eric Noller, Principal, and Ethan Clifford, Engineering Manager, of ERI are headed east far from our sunny state of California to Music City in Nashville, Tennessee for the 2022 AESP Conference. The Association of Energy Services Professionals, AESP, is set to host a diverse group of attendees representing a wide range of industry professionals at their 32nd celebration of this …

ERI is excited to announce our partnership with Willdan as we work together to facilitate the implementation of the California Energy Design Assistance Program (CEDA). The CEDA program, managed by Willdan, is the successor to the California Savings By Design energy efficiency program that many California based businesses are familiar with. In a nutshell the CEDA program is an energy …

Energy Resources Integration (ERI) in collaboration with Southern California Edison (SCE) recently completed a Market Characterization of Indoor Agriculture. This study focuses on fully indoor non-cannabis horticulture, also known as Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). The demand for fresh produce in densely populated regions, combined with external forces such as drought, fires, and climate change, have propelled the development of urban …

There is an abundance of data all around us. Up until recently most of this data was unable to be collected for any number of reasons. Perhaps it was too labor intensive to monitor and track it, or perhaps the data was not useful enough to justify purchasing and installing equipment. Enter the Internet of Things, or IoT. The IoT …

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, most people would never think about how many times the air inside their office building was cycled, filtered, and ultimately exchanged for fresh outside air. However, as employees are beginning to return to the office this summer, many are thinking about how clean the air inside their office really …

Recently passed California and Federal climate regulations are aiming to curb global warming by reducing the impact of HFC refrigerants. While these regulations will not immediately impact existing refrigeration and HVAC systems, they will have the potential to impact choices for new equipment and retrofits in the coming years. Why Refrigerants? Many refrigerants, including the currently common class of Hydrofluorocarbons …

Whether you’re changing out your HVAC, lighting, or performing tenant improvements, building decisions or ownership approval usually boil down to budget. Financial constraints are often the limiting factor when retrofitting systems or equipment. Sometimes facility upgrades can be justified with utility rebates, tax credits, discounts, or other monetary incentives to make your budget work. While this is effective, oftentimes the …

For many multi-tenant property owners, the process of allocating utility costs along to tenants can be a challenge. While tenant spaces can be set up with direct utility meters, this doesn’t work well where tenant spaces may be reconfigured and built out differently for each new tenant’s needs. Pro-rating energy use by the square-footage of each tenant space can provide …

At this year’s 31st annual conference for the Association of Energy Service Professionals (AESP) and presented virtually, ERI’s Engineering Manager Ethan Clifford will discuss strategies for benchmarking and remote data analytics during the era of COVID-19. On January 28th at 8:30am PT, the session will explore a tool that ERI has piloted and used to successfully identify energy savings potential …

California Approves Energy Storage Systems to Bolster Grid [ read Bloomberg article » ]Its Electric Grid Under Strain, California Turns to Batteries [ read New York Times article » ] The CPUC recently approved one of the largest utility-scale battery storage installations in the country, in an effort to improve grid resiliency. The approval came in the wake of rolling …

Fire season is upon us. Due to California’s recent storms, there are multiple thousand-acre fires across the state that are threating homes, business, and utility infrastructure. This is nothing new from previous fire seasons in California but as time progresses, we learn new ways and methods to adapt to these conditions in the short term. During 2020, all California utilities …

One of the most complex barriers to a successfully energy efficiency project is educating the staff and other stakeholders on how and why energy is being saved. It is quite common for systems to revert back to “normal” after implementing system upgrades that significantly reduce the energy savings and all the great work that was performed. Strategic Energy Management (SEM) …

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Click to view larger image » On Wednesday July 15th at 11am PT, ERI Principal Eric Noller will join Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Johnson Controls, and other industry partners to present the beta release of the BETTER tool. BETTER is an open-source, web-based tool which converts readily-available monthly energy data into recommended energy efficiency interventions. This live demonstration will include …

Data centers can be extremely energy intensive. The server hardware in even a small data center will account for hundreds of kilowatts of demand. Not only that, but kilowatts of computer hardware generate kilowatts of heat, which then has to be cooled to keep the servers running. Energy efficient data centers can be developed from the ground up to minimize …

During the past few months, the majority of commercial buildings have significantly ramped down their occupancy to being vacant. As buildings now prepare for reopening, the American Society for Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning (ASHRAE) created an Epidemic task for to provide recommendations and guidance for getting buildings ready for the workforce. The guidance is a great resource for building …

The COVID-19 pandemic is having wide-reaching, uncertain, and potentially long-lasting economic impacts. This is a double-edged sword for energy efficiency. On one hand, energy efficiency projects are a great tool for businesses looking to reduce costs without compromising on their services. However, energy efficiency projects often require a level of financial investment that may be difficult to justify given the …

One of the most cost-effective methods to improve your building or facilities is through energy efficiency projects. They reduce your utility costs, improve the life of your equipment, and can provide improved functionality to your systems. Energy efficiency projects can be as simple as setpoint adjustments, scheduling modifications, and motor speed optimization with more complex upgrades such as Variable Frequency …

Building managers, owners, and operators are finding ways to reduce operating costs for their unoccupied buildings while shelter in place orders for COVID-19 remain in effect for many areas. With these significant changes to building occupancy and facilities management, ERI has received questions about what energy management strategies should be considered. There are some simple actions that can be taken …

In 2009, the City of San Francisco implemented a taskforce to target reduce emissions for existing commercial buildings within the City. The result from the taskforce was the creation of the Existing Commercial Buildings Energy Performance Ordinance which would require buildings to perform energy audits and benchmarking on a routine basis. The San Francisco Environment Code Chapter 20 requires all …

In California, a common electrical billing structure is Time-of-Use (TOU) which various the billing rates based on the time of the day, season, and weekends. Starting in November 2020, the CPUC has approved a change to the TOU schedule to adjust for the shift in the CA electrical grid resulting from a change to renewable sources and how consumers utilize …

In these uncertain times, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recently provided guidance for building operators that have questions about steps to be taken for the operation of commercial buildings housing essential services staff. These steps are broken down into two categories: Non-HVAC measures: the most critical, highest priority actions HVAC measures: those be completed after …

Retro-commissioning, or RCx, can be an excellent, low-cost way to improve building energy efficiency, by improving the operation of existing equipment. However, energy savings don’t mean much if they don’t persist. Numerous factors including comfort complaints, occupancy changes, or even standard equipment maintenance, can reduce the persistence of RCx measures. Studies have found that RCx energy savings can decrease anywhere …

The Bay Area’s Tri Delta transit is making the switch to electric busses, with the help of some novel technology. Fleet charging startup, Amply, is working with Tri Delta to reduce electricity use while expanding their electric fleet. Amply’s system is able to actively manage vehicle charging, minimizing demand and time-of-use rate charges. The active management is especially important to …