Gabriel Environmental Services
Chicago, Illinois
Intern: Rolando Esquivel
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Gabriel Environmental Services is a consulting firm that provides site assessment
services, including environmental testing, monitoring, and laboratory analysis.
The company's headquarters building is approximately 11,000 sq. ft. and employs
over 50 people.
The intern conducted research on several energy efficiency and recycling improvement
projects.
Results:
The intern made the following recommendations:
- Establish a program to purchase
more efficient equipment such as ice machines and laboratory incubators.
This has the potential to save $390 a year and reduce CO2 emissions by 8.4
tons.
- Improve
the building envelope with increased wall and roof insulation. This has the
potential to save over $1,000 and reduce CO2 emissions by 20 tons a year.
- Research
and develop plans for a new 14kW solar PV array. This could save the company
$1,200 a year and reduce CO2 emissions by 13 tons.
- Install solar trackers
on an existing solar PV system. This project would increase module efficiency
by 20%, with microinverters harnessing up to 99% of that power. This project
has the potential to save $300 a year and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.6 tons.
- Implement
facility backup power system to potentially eliminate downtime and harness
power from renewable resources. This project has the potential to save $500
or more per hour during a power outage.
Cumulatively, these projects could
save Gabriel approximately $4,000 a year while reducing CO2 emissions by 40
tons per year.
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