Olympic Games medal in energy efficiency

Vancouver scored highly as an Olympic venue despite weather concerns. Equally impressive, the Winter Games also scored well in terms of their energy efficiency.  Read the full article…

After 17 extraordinary days of athlete performances and 7 years of planning, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games are over, and Pulse Energy’s Venue Energy Tracker has shown them to be the most energy efficient Olympics ever. IOC president Jacques Rogge has declared that the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games will be the blueprint for the sustainability of all future Games.

The total energy savings recorded by the Venue Energy Tracker were 906 MWh.  That’s enough energy for Canadian Olympic hockey team member and Gold medalist Katie Weatherston to play 1.7 million full games or Canadian Olympic Ski-cross team member Julia Murray to race down the ski-cross course 100 million times.

The venues and sites that participated in the live energy tracking project were the Richmond Olympic Oval, Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, South East False Creek Community Centre, Whistler Blackcomb Roundhouse Lodge and Snowmaking Facilities and the Olympic and Paralympic Villages, Vancouver and Whistler. Thanks to their participation in the Venue Energy Tracker program, these green facilities have set a new standard for energy efficiency in Olympic operations.

The Venue Energy Tracker is powered by Pulse Energy’s online energy management software.  Real-time energy tracking enables facility managers to optimize their energy efficiency as energy anomalies or operational problems occur. It also enables the comparison of performance to other similar facilities.

The Venue Energy Tracker (www.VenueEnergyTracker.com) project was initiated by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), BC Hydro and Pulse Energy to measure energy consumption and quantify savings at nine key Olympic sites and venues. The project marked the first time in Olympic history that venues have monitored and publicly reported energy consumption during the Games. The Venue Energy Tracker provides unprecedented transparency while showcasing the many energy efficiency breakthroughs made at 2010 Olympic venues. It also improves operational efficiency and provides a strong legacy of ensuring these buildings will continue to operate efficiently for decades to come after the Games.

Athletes competing in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games rely on Olympic venues to set the stage for them to reach their top performance, but they are also more aware than ever before of the environmental performance of the Games. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), BC Hydro and Pulse Energy are using Pulse™ energy management software to measure consumption at nine key Olympic sites and venues with the Venue Energy Tracker (www.VenueEnergyTracker.com).  This marks the first time in Olympic history that venues have monitored and publicly reported energy consumption during the Games. Not only does the Venue Energy Tracker provide unparalleled levels of transparency, but it also enables energy savings of 10-20% and an ongoing legacy for the venues and for the Olympic movement.

Canadian Olympic ski-cross team member Julia Murray is a supporter of the project and she is featured on the Venue Energy Tracker’s calculator tab. During the first week of competition, the Venue Energy Tracker calculated a combined total savings of 135,716 kilowatt hours of electricity, which is enough energy for Julia Murray to race down the ski-cross course more than 14 million times.

“Every small step towards a sustainable future helps. We must take these steps and follow through with them to reach the goal of a healthier planet. The Olympic venues are great places to track to set an example for the rest of the world. This will really open people’s eyes to how much energy we are actually consuming,” said Julia Murray.

To see how far Julie could ski with the energy saved by an Olympic venue in the past 24 hours, please visit www.VenueEnergyTracker.com.

Pulse Energy’s technology helps Olympic facility managers measure impact of sustainability efforts. Pulse Energy, the energy management software provider to the 2010 Olympic Games, released figures from the company’s Venue Energy Tracker today revealing a savings of 135,716 kilowatt hours of electricity (kWh) during the first week of competition, which is a 16 percent reduction compared to unmonitored consumption levels. That’s enough for Julia Murray, a Canadian freestyle skier, to race down the ski-cross course more than 14 million times.

Using Pulse Energy’s software, the Venue Energy Tracker monitors energy consumption at nine key Olympic sites and venues, marking the first time in Olympic history that venues have monitored and publicly reported on energy consumption during the Games. Each participating site has a dashboard monitoring real-time energy usage, enabling facility managers to make instant adjustments to venue energy use.

According to the Venue Energy Tracker, the Richmond Olympic Oval achieved a high level of energy savings this week by consuming 40,176 kWh less than what the venue would have used if the current sustainability measures were not in place.

For information on additional venues visit the tracker at www.VenueEnergyTracker.com.

Pulse Energy profiled at The Carbon War Room’s ‘Green Capital-Global Challenge’

VANCOUVER, BC – The building sector represents the largest opportunity for non-disruptive, cost-effective solutions to climate change in cities around the world.  The challenge is that while many cities know what needs to be done, they lack the capital to do enough, fast enough to make a difference.  To address this problem, financiers, business leaders, mayors and sustainability directors from around the world gathered in Vancouver for The Carbon War Room’s ‘Green Capital-Global Challenge.’  The co-founders of The Carbon War Room are Sir Richard Branson and José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica.  The conference ran from February 15^th – 17^th with the aim of bringing about scalable and replicable opportunities for how cities can reduce their carbon emissions.

Pulse Energy, the energy management software maker that is providing energy consumption tracking systems to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, took part in the top-level discussions.  Pulse Energy CEO David Helliwell spoke yesterday about how energy management software is a critical tool in the measurement and verification of energy retrofit savings.  “In order to tap into the tremendous energy savings potential in the world’s buildings, we will need a scalable and powerful tool that enables the savings from energy efficiency retrofits to persist over time and to be accurately measured.” said David Helliwell.  “We are honoured to come to the table with such a distinguished group of business and municipal leaders and look forward to implementing the great ideas that have emerged from this event.”

Vancouver is an obvious place for the Carbon War Room to launch the Green Capital-Global Challenge because of its pioneering sustainability plan, Vancouver Green Capital, which has made it a model for how a difference can be made at the city level.  As part of that plan, Mayor Gregor Robertson recently announced that Pulse Energy’s software will be managing energy for one million square feet of City-owned real estate.  Pulse™ energy management software gives facility managers information to make smarter decisions about energy consumption, helping them reduce costs as well as their organizations’ carbon footprint.

Pulse Energy in Olympic Exhibits and Pavillions

Visitors to Vancouver during the Olympic games will be able to see interactive displays and exhibits featuring Pulse Energy in several pavillions around town. Pulse Energy’s exhibits can be seen at the BC Pavillion, at the Power Smart Villlage, and at the Vancouver House. Click on the markers on the map below for more information.

View Where to find Pulse Energy during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in a larger map

Measuring the Power of Sport

The environment has been one of three Olympic pillars since 1994, but no one has ever tracked live energy consumption at venues during the Games.

That’s about to change.

When the world’s best hockey teams meet on the ice, anyone with Internet access will be able to see how many kilowatts of power are being sucked up at Canada Hockey Place (or better still, check after the game).  Read the full article…

A New Olympic Sport: Tracking Building Energy

While people are watching the Olympic Games, building managers will be watching their energy dashboards. Energy management software company Pulse Energy on Friday showed off an energy-monitoring system developed to make the Olympic Games in Vancouver more efficient. Read the full article…

Athletes’ Village Energy Use To Be Tracked Online By Claire Piech

Residents can soon log online and track energy use at the Whistler athletes’ centre and other Olympic related facilities.

Venueenergytracker.com went live last week, and the Whistler athletes’ village tracker should be activated by this Friday, said Ashley Kerr of Pulse Energy, the company that created the tool. Whistler Blackcomb’s Roundhouse and snowmaking facilities are also being monitored on a daily basis for electricity and fuel use, she said. The tracker was launched on Jan. 22 at an event attended by John Furlong, CEO of VANOC, and Ben Van Ruyven, CEO of B.C. Hydro. Read the full article…

Pulse Energy: Buildings, Like Cars, Need Efficiency Tune-ups

By Katie Fehrenbacher

(gigaom.com) — Buildings, like cars, need constant tune-ups to make sure they’re running efficiently, says David Helliwell, co-founder of 4-year-old startup Pulse Energy, which makes building energy management systems. Fortunately for Pulse Energy’s customers, buildings don’t need the time-consuming, oil change-type of maintenance, and Pulse Energy can use software to make sure a building’s energy monitoring is performing optimally in real time, says Helliwell.

Read full article…