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Case Studies: Innovative Solutions

Watercare House Case Study: Anchor tenant scores a NABERSNZ excellent rating for energy use

Watercare House Case Study: Anchor tenant scores a NABERSNZ excellent rating for energy use

Pushkar Kulkarni from Total Utilities completed the site review and NABERSNZ Assessment of Watercare House. Here he provides additional commentary to the original published case study, highlighting the specific benefits of a NABERSNZ tenancy rating. "A NABERSNZ tenancy rating is an ideal tool for tenants as it shows them how their day to day operations impact their energy performance. It can also determine how well they manage energy and identify the opportunities that may exist to improve energy performance. In an increasingly competitive market place and businesses look for a point of difference by delivering on their corporate and social responsibility, and think about long term business sustainability, tools like NABERSNZ are a good demonstration of their willingness to "walk the talk". It reflects where they are now with respect to others and what benefits they can get by improving their NABERSNZ rating. I definitely feel that ratings will become increasingly important in New Zealand. Equipment directly impacting the tenancy rating of Watercare are: lighting, computers, and client specific plug load etc. They are limited to what they can do with the lighting connections and zoning due to way in which these were originally designed. This has had an impact on the rating. If a NABERSNZ rating was a factor that developers and contractors were informed of during the design/build stage, then there is good chance that the lighting connections and zoning may have been designed differently. In my opinion the occupancy density, clever use of all areas, and using lighting controls are the main factors that have resulted in a 4-Star NABERSNZ tenancy rating for Watercare. The rating demonstrates it's a very good start and platform for Watercare to understand where they are at compared to the wider market and examine strategies on how they can improve going forward."   Scoring a first-rate NABERSNZ 4-star tenancy rating for energy consumption at its office demonstrates an Auckland company’s commitment to the environment. Auckland water provider Watercare Services Limited is the anchor tenant in an eight-level office block constructed in bustling Newmarket in 2013. 73 Remuera Road is the first Green Star rated commercial property in the district and reflects the growing demand from corporate tenants for green principled, energy smart work spaces. Watercare occupies three of five office floors in the building. Key Facts 4-star ‘excellent’ NABERSNZ tenancy rating Energy use certified as 97.6 kWh/year/m2 NABERSNZ to be used at other sites Further energy upgrades continue Big Numbers 2013 – achieves a 5 Green Star Design rating 2015 – achieves a 5 Green Star Built rating 2016 – achieves a 4 star NABERSNZ tenancy rating Energy use certified as 97.6 kWh/year/m2 Total energy consumption 738,454 kWh/ year Building Profile Location:  73 Remuera Road, Newmarket, Auckland Owner: Viewmount Orchards Limited Anchor Tenant: Watercare Services Limited (approximately 300 employees on site on an ordinary day) Accolades: 5 Green Star Design (Achieved 2013) 5 Green Star Built (Achieved 2015) NZ Property Council Award – Commercial Office Property Best in Category Award 2015 NZ Property Council Award – Green Building Property Merit Award 2015 The Anchor Tenant Watercare is an Auckland Council owned organisation (CCO) providing water and wastewater services to Auckland and its environs. It is committed to the sustainable management of natural resources and energy saving operations. The Auckland Council has two additional NABERSNZ rated premises – the Manukau Civic Building (3 star whole building, 2014) and Orewa Service Centre (3.5 star whole building 2016). watercare.co.nz The Building/Facilities Manager FM Concepts Limited is an Auckland-based commercial property management firm which focuses on medium to large high rise buildings and offers a full range of services including onsite operational management, property consultancy, contract management, health and safety systems and cost management. It has a strong interest in the sustainability of the built environment and energy efficiency. Two commercial buildings in its portfolio are currently undergoing NABERSNZ ratings. fmconcepts.co.nz Key Sustainable Features Located within easy walking distance of train and bus networks - encourages sustainable transport options for occupants High-tech building controls and management system with real time monitoring Energy efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC). Double glazed façade LED lighting Well-designed waste collection and recycling area End of trip facilities – gym, cycle park and locker facilities This property is a brownfield redevelopment – its construction has improved an existing dilapidated area and makes a positive contribution to a sustainable Auckland. Why NABERSNZ? With water being its core business Watercare has the environment and energy issues at the top of its agenda. While its head office is housed in Green Star rated Watercare House the company’s sustainability manager Roseline Klein says the company wanted to understand its everyday energy performance across the three floors it occupies in the building. It was the missing ingredient. We wanted to know where we were at with our energy performance, how well we were doing and where we could improve. We’d heard about NABERSNZ so we did some research online. It’s a great tool, it provides a benchmark and it drives best practice.” – Watercare Services Limited Sustainability Manager Roseline Klein NABERSNZ in Action Watercare Services Limited sustainability manager Roseline Klein says undertaking a NABERSNZ rating over its 7563 square metres of office space has proved to be “a painless process”. The meterage required for a rating was already in place – 18 meters had been installed in the building during the construction period to aid fine-tuning of systems and utilities. The company took advantage of the free NABERSNZ feasibility assessment which determines a building’s readiness to get started with a rating. “It made a big difference for us and took away the humdrum business of counting 644 computers and documenting the configuration of staff plus it set a timetable, provided a checklist and saved us time,” says Roseline. NABERSNZ assessor Pushkar Kulkarni from Total Utilities says lighting, computers and occupant specific plug load have the biggest impact on a tenancy rating. He says clever configuration of work spaces, occupancy density and sensory lighting controls have resulted in Watercare’s superb 4 star result. The Value of NABERSNZ Watercare says it wants to model water and energy efficiency and its 4-star NABERSNZ tenancy rating shows its credentials. Sustainability manager Roseline Klein says the rating has been “a great experience” and has pushed the company to look hard at its resources and ensure they are better used. “It’s spearheaded change. For example we’re now trying to ensure our procurement process is not always about cost but energy efficiency too. We’ve recently retrofitted our gym with water efficient shower heads which use nine litres per minute compared with 12 – they offer a better shower experience and use less water and energy,” she says. Roseline believes if a NABERSNZ rating was compulsory it would encourage energy awareness and help tackle climate change. “For example Aucklanders are the lowest users of water because it is charged volumetrically so whether you are sustainably-minded or not your invoice reminds you not to waste, to think of water efficiency. A mandatory energy performance rating would have the same effect for landlords and tenants.” In Australia a NABERS rating is compulsory for commercial offices over 1,000 square metres while a range of mandatory energy performance ratings exist in Europe. NABERSNZ assessor Pushkar Kulkarni says as Kiwi businesses increasingly look to deliver on corporate and social responsibility and think about long-term business sustainability a NABERSNZ rating demonstrates a willingness to ‘walk the talk’. “The NABERSNZ tool is set to become increasingly important in New Zealand.” A NABERSNZ rating demonstrates a willingness to ‘walk the talk’ – NABERSNZ Assessor Pushkar Kulkarni

Ongoing Insights with Cloud Analytics: Zespri Case Study

Ongoing Insights with Cloud Analytics: Zespri Case Study

In 2013, Zespri, one of the world’s leading horticultural companies, and the recognised category leader in kiwifruit, was facing many significant challenges. The Psa virus which attacked their main gold kiwifruit crop, had the potential to devastate the company and its grower shareholders. In addition, they were facing significant capital outlays associated with their existing ICT systems and the need to upgrade their computer hardware. Zespri had to ask questions like, "Could the new variety of crop, Sun Gold, be more robust and become another bestseller?", or, "Would our outputs dramatically reduce?" At the same time, Zespri’s Board were concerned about identifying and mitigating the risks of a natural disaster like the tsunami in Japan or the earthquakes in Christchurch. Their data centres were located in Mount Maunganui and backup services in Tauranga. They wanted to understand the impact these types of events could have on their onsite server and storage infrastructure. Measured Baseline Informs Strategy Undertaking the initial analysis of Zespri’s current position, we established a baseline ICT cost. This baseline was used as a benchmark to inform financial decision-making and monitor ongoing expenditure. With assistance from the team at Total Utilities, Zespri evaluated its ICT data centres and infrastructure services and platforms. The objective was to determine whether they could manage the range of potential outcomes that they faced. These systems would have to be flexible enough to adapt to both the best case and the worst-case scenarios. Zespri sought Total Utilities' independent advice to identify and assess out how they could best respond to these risks and opportunities. They ultimately saw the need to inform vital decisions around how they consumed computer services with a scalable and cost-effective model that was aligned with their overall financial and business strategy. Undertaking the initial analysis of Zespri’s current position, we established a baseline ICT cost. This baseline was used as a benchmark to inform financial decision-making and monitor ongoing expenditure. Using this measure, we demonstrated to the CIO and CFO and subsequently their executive and board, significant savings could be made by moving to a monthly subscription model based on public cloud services. In the future increases above the baseline, increased spending in ICT, would be indicative of Zespri’s growth. The baseline is a very useful comparative tool, both for supporting financial decisions and controlling monthly spend. After conducting a thorough analysis of the needs and opportunities available to Zespri, we provided the quantitative data that underpinned the business case presented to their board. Total Utilities subsequently supported Zespri through our independent Request for Proposal process to choose a candidate for the migration to, supply and support of a comprehensive cloud-based infrastructure running over the Microsoft Azure Platform. Moving ICT operations to Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform has many advantages including access to data from anywhere and at any time, an IT environment that is quick and easy to replicate as new offices open and new services become available, and it can effectively respond to the increased competitiveness that occurs when other global players enter the market. In addition, moving to Azure mitigated the risk of natural disasters crippling the closely located physical data centres. Ongoing Insights and Cloud Analytics Our commitment to providing Zespri with a dynamic and meaningful experience meant that our relationship continued past the selection phase. With our expertise in financial analytics we continue to provide them with forever evolving insights. Steve Wichman, Zespri’s Procurement and Commercial Manager, outlines how Zespri is moving into an ICT maturity phase. With this the board is always looking for ways to optimise their systems. The regular technical and financial input from Total Utilities is very useful in this regard, Steve describes us as a sounding board and an independent voice. Zespri utilise the Total Utilities cloud management service based on our analytics, reporting capability and the Cloudyn tool. Providing these reports and monthly insights we can help ensure that expenditure is aligned, appropriate, and adaptable to Zespri’s financial strategy. We also help them manage and mitigate the risks associated with an OPEX approach, bill shock, by providing them with real-time alerts of consumption. Steve states that these reports provide insights on how Zespri can best optimise their systems, analyse exceptions, and determine how they can improve their current and future operating state while reducing overall expenditure. Customer-Centric and Flexible Reporting The board is always looking for ways to optimise their systems. The regular technical and financial input from Total Utilities is very useful in this regard. The dynamic nature of our service to Zespri means that, as well as providing clear and understandable reports, our analytics extend to creating what-if scenarios. For example, we can analyse what might happen if Zespri consolidated or expanded some of its ICT services. This approach means we can project future cost savings or increases accurately. Total Utilities insights, financial analysis and recommendations have become more meaningful as more data is gathered and more avenues explored. We can now calculate ICT costs on a “per service” basis. This allows Zespri to identify the true cost of financial, operations, marketing or any other system that requires ICT resources. Our benchmarking and cash projection approach extends to three-yearly reviews of the business case. These reviews are vital to ensure that the case remains relevant to Zespri’s situation and consistent with the parameters set by the board. Regular reviews, along with ongoing monthly, quarterly and annual reporting, are at the heart of Zespri’s ongoing drive to extract the maximum, identified and projected value available from the Microsoft Azure platform of services. Understanding Key Business Drivers to Leverage Competitiveness Other ICT consulting companies might focus on the technology or hardware, we take a financial analytics approach that sees ICT as a consumable and adjustable utility. This means consumption and costs are transparent, flexible and optimised. We believe ICT should be financially appropriate for a company, aligned with their goals, and be able to adapt to real-world factors. We do all this by establishing a baseline of costs, creating a detailed business value analysis in support of a business case and then deliver regular monitoring. This approach informs understanding of the company’s consumption, costs and benefit realisation from their Azure based ICT systems. This is the multi-faceted and valuable service that we continue to provide to Zespri. Finally, would Steve at Zespri recommend us to other companies? A resounding yes. Our strong and dependable relationship, the way we deliver on a job both in quality and in timeliness, and our independent and trusted advice, is hard to find elsewhere.

Achieving Client Success

Emmy Seccombe
Te Uru
Paul Laing
Red Stag Timber
Haydn Randall
St Bede's College
The Power Plant Next
The Power Plant Next Door

Throughout history technological advancement and change that has lasting impacts on humanity has largely come about through critical mass. As a child, I distinctly remember visiting a friends house and seeing their newly installed solar PV system on the roof. 25 years ago, this seemed like the future as I had only seen photos of such things in books about NASA and science fiction. While some technologies are adopted quickly into day to day life, it seems to be taking an age for solar systems to become common place. Obviously cost is major driver of this but then so too is how seamlessly technology can be integrated into how we live. Micro grids have been spoken about in energy circles for some time, but it is only now that the step change in the supply and purchase of energy appears to be gathering momentum as more and more end users are installing solar systems and battery storage. Contact, Trustpower and Vector have all been trialing various strategies relating to this in Wellington, Tauranga and Waiheke Island respectively. Some third party companies are taking a slightly less traditional approach allowing end users to buy and sell energy directly between each other underpinned by blockchain technology removing the need for a "middle-man" so to speak. The following post from Centrica has direct parallels with the New Zealand energy market. Suzanne Schutte is a supermarket worker - and an energy pioneer. The mother of two from Wadebridge, Cornwall is the first householder to have solar panels and cutting-edge battery technology installed as part of a £19 million trial that aims to help unlock further renewable energy use across her part of south west England. What makes this scheme different to thousands of other rooftop solar schemes across the world - and what makes Suzanne a pioneer - is that the electricity generated by the solar panels and stored in her battery won’t just be used by her home or sold back into the grid. Under the Cornwall Local Energy Market, homes and businesses will eventually be able to trade electricity with each other directly. This gives them greater control over their energy use and greater access to cleaner and cheaper electricity. By taking part in the scheme, Suzanne joins a select band of people in communities across the globe trialling new ways of using and trading energy that are underpinned by the latest digital technology. Rerouting Renewables The need for schemes like the Cornwall Local Energy Market has been created by the rise of renewable energy and the inability of existing power grids to move this energy around efficiently. In most western countries, power transmission networks were developed nearly a century ago to transfer electricity from large coal-fired plants over long distances across the country. However, the map of electricity generation in these countries has changed dramatically over the past decade. For example, renewable energy sources, dominated by wind power, now account for nearly a third of all the electricity generated in the UK. And microgeneration – where energy is generated by homes or businesses and distributed locally – accounts for 17% of electricity generation. Government incentives and the falling cost of technology has encouraged many to generate their own power with more than a million homes in the UK using solar panels for their electric and heating needs. Old-style grids - such as that found in the UK - are not designed to move electricity from thousands of small power plants over short distances. Instead, electricity continues to be fed over long distances to central points in the grid, then fed out again. This can create curious anomalies. Around the country, many wind farms have had to reduce their power output because of an excess of energy on the grid - due to strong winds and low demand - while major energy consumers including nearby factories have no way of accessing that extra electricity. Being able to store and move electricity at a far more local level can help smooth out supply and demand, and address many of the problems caused by the intermittent nature of renewable electricity generation. Going Local The UK’s National Grid predicts that by 2050 up to 65% of the country’s electricity generation capacity could come from local sources. That means that something needs to change in the way electricity is moved between those producing it and those consuming it. And this is where schemes like the Cornwall Local Energy Market come in. The scheme is being funded by Centrica and the European Regional Development Fund, with support from partners including the local distribution network operator and academia. All of the organisations involved regard it as a critical test case for how energy markets around the world could operate in the future. “The Cornwall Local Energy Market is an important test of how we can better integrate renewable technologies into local areas,” says Ed Reid, Head of Strategy for Centrica Business Solutions. Reid adds that the opportunity today isn’t only to make the energy system more efficient, but also to give both producers and consumers greater involvement and control. “The existing energy system is based on 1950s technology and treats the consumer as a passive recipient,” he says. “It’s far less dynamic than other markets, and I think going forward what we’re seeing with new technologies is that it is allowing customers to be more involved in energy and take better control.” The Airbnb of Energy When energy industry experts like Reid talk about making energy more dynamic the way it is in “other markets”, they are referring to the kind of transformation that is currently taking place in sectors such as finance, travel and hospitality. Specifically, it is the ability for digital technology platforms to enable so-called “peer-to-peer” transactions. In finance it can be seen when, for example, those seeking foreign currency for their holidays can trade their own currency via an app with other travellers. Arguably the most famous example comes from the hospitality sector, where Airbnb has enabled millions of homeowners to make extra income from renting out their spare rooms. “Companies like Uber, Airbnb, have really changed the way that we think about business,” says Lawrence Orsini, Founder and CEO of energy blockchain pioneer, LO3 Energy. “The very same things are happening now at very early stages in energy. We’re seeing more generation on rooftops in our communities, in businesses and that’s going to change the way that business works in the energy industry. It’s really distributing a lot of the power and control to members of communities, and putting more control in the hands of consumers at the edge of the grid.” Orsini’s company will supply the blockchain technology through which participants in the Cornwall Local Energy Market will be able to trade with each other directly. LO3's blockchain for energy empowers consumers to set preferences for energy consumption including local energy produced by neighbours, commercial businesses and farms. In Brooklyn, residents of the Park Slope and Gowanus neighbourhoods are connected with each other via a virtual microgrid using rooftop solar panels. LO3 has found that consumers want a choice in their energy and believe in creating a stronger, more resilient community focused on local values. Trading with Blockchain A blockchain is a database that is shared across a network of computers. It acts as a record of transactions. And because records of those transactions are stored on multiple computers and updated simultaneously, it’s much more secure and harder to hack than a centralised system. Each transaction is a block, and when the transaction is complete the block gets added to a chain of previous transactions, providing a clear public history of those transactions. In local energy markets and microgrids, tokens equal to the market value of electricity are traded and logged as transactions or “blocks”. This use of digital tokens means the trade between energy user and producer can happen instantly, without the need for bank approval of the transaction. For Orsini, this kind of digital communication of data is the key to how grids will function in the future. A lack of data is one of the main barriers that is stopping people from trading on microgrids, he explains. “Our devices need to be able to speak to each other about what’s happening on the grid, in order for them to make choices about when they charge, when they discharge, when they produce electricity, how they move electricity. In order to manage the grid of the future, we have to have a significant amount of data. In fact, the grid of the future doesn’t run on coal or natural gas, or wind or solar; it runs on data.” The Power Plant Next Door The data vital for energy users and producers to trade locally won’t just come from the supply side. Local energy markets will also be able to understand electricity demand at a far more accurate level than ever before. UK energy start-up Verv has developed an AI-powered smart hub that sits in people’s homes and learns how much electricity is used by individual devices in the home. In a trial on a housing estate in Hackney, east London, Verv installed its smart hubs in 40 flats. The information from these boxes is being combined with a blockchain-enabled microgrid that trades the electricity generated by the housing estate’s rooftop solar panels and stored in a communal battery system. This trial delivered the UK’s first peer-to-peer energy trade using blockchain in April 2018. Verv chief operating officer Maria McKavanagh says having highly detailed knowledge of electricity demand will enable local energy markets to behave like the current wholesale energy market. And that will increase the accuracy of future energy deals. “We know which appliances are on in real time, how much they’re costing, what’s been used in the past and, therefore, we can predict your future energy requirements much better than we would be able to with smart meters alone,” she says. That allows customers to buy the amount of energy needed based on a really accurate forecast. Similarly, for the person selling their solar energy, they will be able to ensure they’ve stored enough energy for that day’s needs, and only sell on the excess. Whether you produce energy or not, schemes like those in Hackney, Brooklyn and Cornwall show how one day we could all become the power plant next door.

NZ Winners and Losers in the Spotlight in...
NZ Winners and Losers in the Spotlight in 2018

For the third year in a row BusinessPlus has allowed me the opportunity to take the mickey out of a select group of businesses and individuals in this satirical Christmas “awards” wrap-up. That’s a big call by the editor when my track record for saying the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time precedes me. If you are offended, I am in the phone book and on social media. If you have a laugh, then send the kudos to my brave editor.   Taking the Eye off the Prize Award – Auckland Council  When a huge storm with 200kph-plus winds blew out the candles on 150,000 Auckland households last April, we all sympathised with the hardworking Vector crews and management as they scrambled to ensure the hippies out West didn’t lose their indoor light garden, marijuana crops. Later it turned out that a big part of the problem was damage caused by Auckland Council-controlled trees crashing down under the weight of reduced maintenance programmes and inadequate planning rules. More focus on the basics might have left us not having to cook defrosted freezer contents over gas barbecues for a week   Social Media Brand Genius Award - Clarke Gayford Clarke, could you be any more savvy than to be photographed standing, dripping sweat, in a skin-tight wetsuit while gently tucking your infant child into your rippling biceps? Creating a personal social media brand bigger than a Kardashian’s booty while retaining the job title of “stay-at-home dad”, you even found the time to construct a patio deck for your house while in the midst of new parenthood. In a blow to husbands and partners across the nation, your smiling perfection has exposed our hopeless parenting inadequacies for all to see. To make matters worse for me the remains of my broken self-esteem were wiped away when my partner hissed those fateful words, “Why can’t you be more like him?”   Curdled Milk Award - Fonterra Take billions of dollars’ worth of farmers’ hard-won milk products, package them up for international consumption, add a highly paid exec team and shiny new Auckland Viaduct offices, then deliver a loss of $140 million. This is usually a recipe for pitchforks and flaming torches. It’s lucky Fonterra’s shareholders couldn’t afford the newly excised fuel to get their tractors to the ritual burning. Hopefully 2019 will see a return to form for what is usually the shining star of our agricultural economy.   Accident Waiting to Happen Award – Steel and Tube Steel & Tube has been fined a record $1.885 million for breaching the Fair Trading Act by making false and misleading representations about its steel mesh products that are used in construction to provide strength and stability in the event of an earthquake.   Getting the product testing wrong had the potential to wreak havoc on our roads, but for the timely intervention of the Commerce Commission and the prompt admission of error by the company. The irony was not lost on the writer that recent company share buyers have included the New Zealand Government through the Accident Compensation Corporation. If Fletcher Building’s takeover attempt of Steel and Tube proves a success, expect far greater attention to be paid to test regimes and quality control than proved to be the case here.   Unsung Hero Award – Rod Drury, founder of Xero Founder and still 13 per cent shareholder of Xero, Rod Drury, has proved that Kiwi companies can fly in the highly competitive international marketplace for accounting software. Rod stepped down as CEO this year in further proof that emotionally secure, servant leaders can make way for innovation and change without ceasing to be brilliant entrepreneurs. Xero has surpassed one million subscribers globally and heads a long list of New Zealand tech enterprises flexing their muscles internationally. Xero ships no physical product as it spreads its wings across the globe. Food for thought in a world looking for clean, green, sustainable solutions from countries such as New Zealand.   That’s it for 2018. Have a safe and restful break and a wonderful Christmas. See you in the New Year.   David Spratt is a director of Total Utilities. Email david@totalutilities.co.nz

New Branding and New
New Branding and New Services

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. Drawing is the honesty of the art. Salvador Dali Today Total Utilities announces its new branding. Over the last 18 years we have worked hard to assist companies in controlling consumption and cost. It's an exciting day for us and we are proud to share this with you. From today you'll see a change in the way we look, including our new ribbon logo. The spherical shape represents the whole as we take a 360 degree approach to understanding our clients and their utility requirements, whether it be Energy, Waste and ICT or Insights, Strategy and Solutions. What doesn't change is our desire to create a sustainable future for New Zealand businesses and how they manage their utilities by continuing to deliver ongoing value for our clients. We continue to work hard to provide new services to assist our clients such as Energy Monitoring and Targeting through wireless non-intrusive energy senors, Cloud Computing Analytics for consumption of computer services and qualitative and quantitative reporting aligned to overall financial strategy. Total Utiltities About Us Presentation We remain committed to delivering a personalised service and assisting our clients navigate a rapidly evolving commercial market place by underpinning strategic thinking. I would like to thank our existing clients for your continued loyalty and confidence in our company. To prospective clients, I hope that you will partner with us to discover real world solutions for sustainable utility consumption and cost optimisation.

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