Climate Change Action - Rhode Island

On April 1, 2009 the Project Partners organized and held a half day workshop on how to utilize EPA's "Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities". The workshop held at the University of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay Campus was attended by more than 20 representatives from 15 of Rhode Island's 19 municipal WWTFs and covered key aspects of the EPA Guidebook and the Plan-Do-Act-Check Process including: Establishing energy goals; Benchmarking energy use; Developing an energy policy; and Establishing energy objectives and targets.

At the conclusion of the workshop, attendees were given a demonstration of the EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager software. A follow-up training session on how to use the Portfolio Manager was held in late April 2009. The Project Partners are coordinating efforts to have all 19 Rhode Island WWTFs participate in the Portfolio Manager training and have planned a series of regularly scheduled Project Roundtable meetings, which will focus on the development of the EF-EMSs.

As part of this Project, each participating WWTF will be receiving an Energy Management Audit to be conducted by an Energy Audit Team made up of the Project Partners in cooperation with National Grid and RISE, a Rhode Island-based energy management consulting firm. The first Energy Management Audit was conducted in March, with additional audits planned for the summer months. During the audits, the Energy Audit Team examines energy efficiency and conservation opportunities, use and application of National Grid rebate incentives, and potential application and use of available renewable energy resources.