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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
Driving Decisions on Buying Electric...
Driving Decisions on Buying Electric Vehicles

Last month’s article on electric vehicles elicited responses ranging from “hippy, coombyah, PC, Greenie horse poo” through to “Where can I get one of these gosh darn, new-fangled, electric buggies?”. Thanks to you all for your feedback. Rather than take sides in the debate about whether or not we should be buying electric vehicles, let’s examine the drivers that inform the decisions we will all make around which vehicles our companies buy. Price Electric vehicles are expensive. Buying electric vehicles today, we can expect to pay BMW prices for Corolla performance. As production volumes rise we can expect this delta to shift to equilibrium. In the meantime, expect FBT to be high on the financial controller’s agenda. Fuel costs Petrol costs around $2 per litre. An electric vehicle equivalent is 30 cents per litre. For the average company car fleet, this is a huge saving. Expect changes though. The government taxes the heck out of petrol and diesel and will likely move to Electric Vehicle road user charges to protect their revenues. If the IRD is true to form you can expect the tax per kilometre to be the same in the future as it is today, regardless of the vehicle type you choose. Resale value Last month five German cities announced bans on diesel vehicles. A court ruling means many others may follow suit across Europe. This has seen the resale price of second-hand diesel cars in Germany plummet as up to 12 million diesel vehicles will be forced off their roads by 2020. We can expect to see residuals becoming a major question for procurement managers as the popularity of second-hand petrol and diesel vehicles declines across the world. Servicing Electric vehicles have around 20 moving parts compared to the 2000 parts we find in the average sedan. This translates into far greater simplicity, reliability and with that, much lower service charges. Expect huge changes in the way new cars are sold and serviced in the years ahead. Lifetime warranties and free service schedules anyone? Finding a trained electric vehicle mechanic might be a trick though. Insurance Insurance companies are looking with a jaundiced eye at the high price of buying electric vehicles and more significantly at the cost of repair. If you prang your $120,000 Tesla there is currently no repair facility in NZ. Your insurer will need to ship your pride and joy to Australia or write it off. That’s a recipe for weeks off the road and higher insurance premiums. Range Assuming you keep the air conditioner off and aren’t stuck in traffic, the average new electric vehicle has a range of around 200kms fully charged. This is less than half the range of an average petrol-powered car. A private car only travels 40kms per day on average and range will get sorted in time. Right now, though, most company cars don’t have the luxury of sitting around in the garage or being stranded on the side of the road. Charging It takes quite a while to charge an electric vehicle, from 30 minutes at a fast charge station through to twelve hours on a single-phase home connection. Add to this the lack of fast charge facilities and questions around just how well our distribution grids will cope with the peak demand of 3 million electric cars charging while we are cooking dinner and the industry faces quite a few challenges. Choice Today there are around 30 new electric vehicle car models available in New Zealand, compared with literally hundreds of petrol and diesel cars. By the end of next year, the number and quality of new electric vehicle car models will rise to over 100 while petrol and diesel choices will fall. Expect this trend to continue. Lack of information Finding unbiased data on electric vehicles is tough and in many cases, the information is contradictory and confusing. One place you can all go for well-presented, easy-to-understand information is the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). It is biased in favour of electric vehicles but nonetheless, it provides useful facts as you evaluate your options when considering buying electric vehicles. This article is the second part of a series on electric vehicles. Part 1 explored the business case for electric vehicles. Next month I will look at the impacts of putting several million electric vehicles onto an already complex electricity grid. I will also explore the ways our government and our electricity industry is likely to respond to these challenges.

Infusing New Operational Intelligence...
Infusing New Operational Intelligence into Old Equipment

A client of ours recently installed energy sensors across two areas of their facility. One area is significantly old using good practice equipment for the time, the other brand new and utilising advancements in equipment technology. Both areas are similarly sized and perform the same operation, however, measuring energy performance between the old and new will provide our client with real insights when making future strategic decisions. While our client operates a large portfolio of facilities around the North Island, they are using this specific site as a sandbox environment, a testbed to trial new initiatives as they look to upgrade and replace existing equipment at their other facilities. Utilising real-time energy data to measure performance against a range of benchmarks will allow them to verify performance gains and deliver insights into which areas should be prioritised in their long-term business plan. Non-intrusive wireless energy sensors that can be easily moved to measure other areas, combined with powerful cloud-based software reporting tools provide a cost-effective and flexible way to build business cases. The following article, written by Jon Rabinowitz at Panoramic Power, highlights the fact that, with Internet of Things (IoT), businesses can now test ideas in a quick and cost-effective manner while collecting valuable data for future decision making.   The Internet of Things has exploded onto the scene and with it a slew of potential business applications. In navigating this terra nova, most decision makers take their cues from the competition, afraid of wading too far into the unknown. This is reasonable, of course, but it's also a big mistake. Smart business owners and managers should know that they don't need to resign themselves to the role of a follower in order to hedge their bets and mitigate their exposure to risk. You can lead and be cautious at the same time! A False Dichotomy in Applied Internet of Things Investment Consider, for example, the business value of smart, self-reporting assets. These assets hold the promise of constantly refined operational processes, reduced maintenance costs (as issues are caught and corrected in the earliest stages before degradation occurs), extended lifecycles and the elimination of unplanned downtime. Still, few things ever go exactly according to plan and deliver quite as advertised. So it's understandable that prudent decision makers might set expectations below the promised value. Add to that the fact that overhauling and replacing the entirety of your asset infrastructure is incredibly expensive and a terrible disruption to operations. It's easy to see why some business owners and managers might prefer to sit back and let "the other guys" take the lead in implementing Internet of Things into their business operations. But easy to see and right are two very different things. The right approach is significantly more nuanced, as the rationale presented above is built on a false dichotomy. Your choice isn't between sitting back and doing only what the other guy already succeeded at or totally replacing all your critical assets. There's a world of options spanning the divide between those two. The Golden IoT Mean: New Operational Intelligence, Old Equipment Science and technology are both predicated on the principle of testing and your business should be the same. It always makes sense to "pilot" new technologies or techniques before deploying them at large. Beyond that though, using advanced Internet of Things technologies and tools, you can infuse new operational intelligence into old equipment without replacing anything. Until your industry has reached a "mature" state in its development and integration of IoT technologies, this is the best way to mitigate risk without forfeiting access to value while it's still a comparative advantage. Using smart, non-intrusive energy sensors – each about the size of a 9-volt battery – you could retrofit past-gen assets to enable next-gen operational intelligence. Simply snap a sensor onto the circuit feeding the intended asset. No need to suspend operations; no need for complicated installation. After your sensors are in place, enter the corresponding ID numbers into the mapping console. Immediately, these sensors will begin reporting granular energy data, pumped through an advanced, machine-learning analytics platform, and turning out new operational intelligence to be acted upon. In this manner, facility managers can give a voice to their critical assets, allowing for advanced operational automation, predictive maintenance and generally increased production.

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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