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GESPC-U: The University of all things Energy Performance Contracting

GESPC-U, presented by the Energy Services Coalition and sponsored by the United States Department of Energy, is a series of topics taking the listener from concept to construction and beyond, on many different levels, of the guaranteed energy savings performance contracting process.

GESPC-U Podcast Catalog

GESPC-U podcasts numbered from 101 to 125 are designed primarily as introductory audio files for listeners interested in learning more. This series of podcasts builds upon one another beginning with GESPC 101.

GESPC 101: What Makes Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contracting Successful

A brief history of Performance Contracting offers an introduction to the concept and insights into what makes it successful.

GESPC 102: Considerations When Contemplating GESPC

How do you know GESPC may be a good option?

GESPC 103: How to Get to Yes: Decision-Making Factors

What are some of the considerations and common misunderstandings that may influence the decision to enter into a performance contract?

GESPC 104: The ESCO Selection Process (Part 1)

How to choose an ESCO for a performance contracting project? What are some tried and true best practices to help evaluate and select an ESCO? This episode focuses on ESCO selection where there is an established State performance contracting program, a set of guidelines, and a State generated pre-qualified/approved list of ESCOs.

GESPC 105: The ESCO Selection Process (Part 2)

Helpful tips to find a qualified provider in States that do not have the support of a state performance contracting program or list of pre-qualified ESCOs.

GESPC 106: Preliminary Audit: Determining Viability

The Preliminary Audit: What is it, what its purpose, and where does it fit in the flow of an energy performance contract.

GESPC 107: The Investment Grade Audit: The Recipe to Success

Great IGAs are the ultimate characterization of the pre-construction conditions of a facility and/or infrastructure. This episode introduces the IGA, where it typically fits in the performance contracting process and highlights some of its components.

GESPC 108: The Investment Grade Audit: Dollars and Cents

The IGA is a partnership between owner and ESCO where mutual expectations for the project are established. These expectations are explored in more detail including the costs for an IGA and the various methods to pay for it.

GESPC 109: The Investment Grade Audit: Kick-Starting the IGA Process.

The owner is responsible for supplying a myriad of necessary facility and system information that allows an ESCO to begin the audit process. What are the most common types of information the owner should, as a minimum, provide?

GESPC 110: The Investment Grade Audit: Just the Facts

What utility billing information is absolutely imperative for the owner to provide to the ESCO, and why?

GESPC 111: The Investment Grade Audit: The Science of it All

Having been provided facility, system, and utility bill information, the ESCO begins field verification and conducts detailed surveys of equipment, loads, and operational parameters, all to be used to develop a credible utility baseline.

GESPC 112: Preliminary Findings

Owners have assembled and shared with their ESCO partner utility data and site specific information and the ESCOs have completed their field studies. Now, the owner and ESCO sit down and start the process of reviewing the preliminary findings; determining which measures to include and which must be eliminated in an elegant decision-making exchange intended to build the final Investment Grade Audit.

GESPC 113: Project Development

How to achieve maximum transparency and clarity of information in order to build consensus between the project owner and ESCO and to heighten the confidence of project success and during the IGA process.

GESPC 114: Preparing a preliminary investment-grade audit report

All the Field Works been done, a tremendous amount of information has been gathered, summarized, analyzed, measures have been determined and now its time to prepare a preliminary investment-grade audit report. In Episode 14 we will walk through, line by line, some of the items and details of what is recommended for inclusion in this preliminary investment-grade audit report.

GESPC 115: Down to Zero

At the heart of the IGA is the baseline energy costs. We take you behind the curtain for a look at how the ESCOs arrived at the Baseline Energy Costs and Rate information included in the IGA.

GESPC 116: The Science of the IGA Savings Calculations

It is at this stage when the IGA engineering calcs, the very math of the project comes together, is presented, explained and defines the paid for by savings project.

GESPC 117: Preliminary Commissioning Plan

The Preliminary Commissioning Plan is the real-time field validation that devices and systems perform as intended. In this podcast we examine the components of this plan, including the exact actions and activities to be followed, and the integration of the plan into the investment grade audit (IGA).

GESPC 118: Measurement and Verification Plan -- Proving the Savings

Within the consideration of every energy and water conservation measure there should be the concept, knowledge, capability and know how to prove that the anticipated or projected or calculated savings or avoidance of cost, are being achieved. That is accomplished in the IGA's M&V Plan.

GESPC 119: Wrapping up the IGA and its Report

Part of the work of the IGA is to appropriately plan for post implementation. Considerations for maintenance and operations requirements, staffing impacts and ongoing responsibilities are explored as we wrap up the IGA phase..

GESPC 120: The GESPC Project Proposal

The difference between the IGA and the subsequent Project Proposal, or what is commonly referred to as the Term Sheet, is more important than some realize. Find out why.

GESPC 121: Decision Time

Each step along the way the owner and ESCO should be in lock step agreement about what goes into the final product bringing us to decision time: getting all the final contracts reviewed, accepted, and the financing in place before moving to final project implementation.

GESPC 122: Hammer Time: Project Implementation

The construction phase of a performance contract is when the agreed to strategies and improvements identified as a result of the background research in the IGA are put into practice. This episode outlines some of the best practices that should guide this phase of the project.

GESPC 123: Closing out and acceptance

You can't start keeping score until you know when to call a measure complete. Finalizing each measure and building up to the project closeout should follow a very well defined plan and process.

GESPC 124: Final Considerations

Explore the final hurdles with us as we wrap up the implementation phase of a performance contract. Go beyond implementation as we take a look at commissioning and post construction M&V.

GESPC 125: Post Construction Performance Period

The post construction activities required to achieve and illustrate the project savings and the ongoing maintenance and operational responsibilities are examined as we close out the Introduction Series of Podcasts for GESP

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GESPC-U Special Topic: Covid-19 Impacts and Implications to Your GESPC Project

In light of the current coronavirus situation the Energy Services Coalition offers this special podcast with a focus on how to manage your Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contract during this global emergency..

If any of your buildings have been vacated voluntarily or in response to an executive order, and are part of an active GESPC Measurement and Verification phase, we strongly recommend you refer to your performance contract documents for language addressing this situation, that is, a significant change in the buildings' energy use. To learn more download the Podcast below, or click the play button to listen now.

Special Episode: Covid-19 Impacts and Implications to Your GESPC Project