During his presentation Haynor highlighted that 80% of commercial buildings in Minnesota are served by RTUs and that most of these existing RTUs have immense opportunity for upgrades that can save energy. By exploring the technical aspects of RTU’s, interviewing stakeholders, taking field measurements, and calculating energy savings, Haynor and his team demonstrated the potential energy savings and non-energy benefits to RTU upgrades and developed recommendations to increase implementation:
- Contractor Engagement
- Connecting with folks who are installing and repairing RTUs is a key touch point for increasing efficiency upgrades.
- Utility and manufacturer customer engagement
- Through resources like newsletters and other forms of communications utilities and manufacturers can increase market awareness by letting customers know what options are available before the end of the RTUs useful life.
- Prescriptive rebates where possible
- Simplify the custom rebates process
Following his presentation, attendees discussed their own experience with retrofit work on RTUs, available programs and rebates and their experiences using them, and how the market barriers (e.g. supply chain issues, cost, the need for additional education) show up in their work.
