The Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey

A community center in Southern New Jersey has taken its commitment to improving the environment while slashing operational costs to the next level with the completion of a three-phased project featuring onsite generation.

The Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey (JFED) serves members of the wider community through a variety of agencies, including the Katz Jewish Community Center, which together aim to support those in need while enhancing Jewish life locally and around the world. The Cherry Hill campus is comprised of several uses including athletic, educational, office, and event facilities.

Building on the success of the Phase 1 project where Ecosave installed efficient building upgrades to deliver energy savings under a shared savings model – the Ecosave Services Agreement (ESA) – JFED again partnered with Ecosave to find creative solutions to meet its operational and financial objectives. Faced with failing, end-of-life boiler equipment, Ecosave engineers saw an opportunity to complement the energy savings delivered under the Phase 1 ESA with an onsite combined heat and power plant (CHP) under a Phase 2 project. A new, state-of-the-art CHP plant was designed to generate electricity and provide hot water for space heating, domestic hot water, and pool heating while eliminating the need to replace failing boiler equipment.

This new energy configuration resulted in JFED cutting electricity consumption by 65% and drastically reducing reliance on the grid!

Mostly recently Ecosave and JFED completed a Phase 3 project which included a rooftop solar PV system and sophisticated controls and programming to manage the operation of the existing CHP plant in concert with the solar PV to ensure maximum efficiency and output from both generation assets.

For a zero-dollar upfront capital outlay and no debt, JFED has received over $3M in building upgrades and over $332k per year in operational savings. While in most cases the ESA is geared to deliver guaranteed savings in excess of the fee, JFED elected to have additional measures installed and was excited that the majority of their fee would be paid for out of savings while avoiding debt on their balance sheet.

Energy reduction and onsite generation measures implemented include:

• Installation of 131 kW rooftop solar PV array
• Installation of a 150kW state-of-the-art modular combined heat and power (CHP) plant system to generate electricity and hot water
• Two new condensing boilers were installed to supplement the new CHP system and replace end-of-life equipment
• Replacement of rooftop units with high-efficiency units appropriately sized to avoid unnecessary usage as well as reduce maintenance costs
• LED lighting upgrade across entire campus
• Optimization of water source heat pump, makeup air unit, and pool dehumidification system to reduce energy waste
• Replacement of 60 heat pumps with high-efficiency models
• Installation and optimization of a new Building Automation System
• Energy management services delivered by EcosaveWatch whereby Ecosave engineers constantly monitor and analyze building usage to provide regular reports and conduct meetings to discuss ways to drive down consumption
• Comprehensive mechanical and building controls maintenance services on installed equipment