At its two Toronto plants, Alumicor manufactures architectural building products, windows, storefronts and doors, for sale throughout North America. Twice named one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, Alumicor has been recognized for its innovation and world-class best business practices. So it's not surprising that Alumicor president and CEO Lakis Georgiou quickly recognized the challenge that rising energy prices posed and called in Toronto Hydro Energy Services - the energy efficiency experts. Alumicor wanted to lower its plants' energy load while improving overall energy performance.

Identified improvements
After conducting a thorough Energy Audit of the facilities, Toronto Hydro Energy Services identified a number of opportunities for improvement. Two areas offered Alumicor the greatest return on investment with substantial energy savings in the first year and a full recovery of project costs in well under three years.

High-efficiency gas-fired radiant tube heating was installed to replace the boiler and shop unit heaters for an estimated natural gas savings of 91,000 cubic metres per year. In addition, a further $2,000 a year in heating system maintenance costs was eliminated with the introduction of the new radiant tube heating system.

Power factor, which measures the actual performance of the power received by the facility, was found to be deficient. By installing power factor capacitors, Toronto Hydro Energy Services was able to raise the power factor to 92% and deliver an estimated $6,700 per year in electricity savings.

Full project management and guaranteed results
Energy efficiency improvements at Alumicor were conducted under Toronto Hydro Energy Services, Performance Design Building service. Beginning with an in-depth energy audit and analysis, the service provides a complete turnkey project solution including all engineering designs and implementation, total management of the project and post-project implementation. Furthermore, the proposed energy performance improvements come with guarantees. If 85% of the estimated energy savings are not realized in the first year, Toronto Hydro Energy Services will make up the difference.