ABSTRACT
In the United States, the Department of Energy, particularly the Atlanta Support Office, was dead set against the energy performance contracting (EPC) concept and waged near war to prevent its acceptance. In an era of climbing energy prices, the idea that a firm could identify energy conservation opportunities for a client and install the measures for a share of the cost savings found a market niche, but all did not go smoothly. Procurement people wanted to have their engineers conduct the audits, list the equipment that the engineer said was needed to reduce energy consumption and then put it out to bid. The head of the energy committee at that time for the American Consulting Engineers Council, Don Carter, helped turn things around. Out of the ashes, there emerged a new concept: guaranteeing the amount of energy saved. As the goal to develop a more energy-efficient world becomes more and more critical, EPC will see many new opportunities.
