USDA Center Makes the Grade

Center taps Johnson Controls for contract

Like all government agencies, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, tries to do its work amid federal belt-tightening.
But unlike some other government agencies, the center directly affects the health and well-being of the nation’s people. That’s because the center, opened in 1961, conducts research on livestock and poultry diseases to solve animal health and food safety problems faced by livestock producers and the public. So, given the choice of using funds for escalating energy and infrastructure costs or using the budget for research, the center personnel made the only rational decision. They called Johnson Controls.
Johnson Controls outlined a program that allowed the center to upgrade 40-year-old facilities, making them more operationally and energy efficient, without diverting precious resources.

Past History

The center previously had worked with Johnson Controls on the installation and operation of the Metasys building automation system. The system:

Monitors and controls the center’s power plant, HVAC system and pressurization of laboratories and animal housing.
Allows for systems monitoring via computers or the Internet for up-to-the-minute control.

But as the center’s infrastructure began to age—and escalating energy needs resulted in higher utility bills—the center found itself hamstrung by that federal belt-tightening. So, Johnson Controls employed an Energy Savings Performance Contract with the National Animal Disease Center—a contract that aimed to pay for upgrades and improvements through energy savings.

A Plan in Action

Johnson Controls audited the facility and created an energy-saving plan. Short-term considerations involved efficient lighting and heat recovery systems. But the most exciting development was the implementation of a cogeneration power unit.
With the cogeneration unit, a natural-gas driven turbine generates electricity at a cost below the current utility rate and captures heat from the combustion to generate steam to heat water and run sterilizers. Best yet, the turbine allows the center to generate its own power if need be—a crucial consideration in mission-critical laboratory settings.
The payoff? As a result of the contract, the center:

Reduced its annual energy costs by 30 percent.
Saved an average of $550,000 per year in energy costs.
Benefited from improved air quality and reduced lighting maintenance.

In addition to cost savings, the plan also enhanced safe conditions—and safety, after all, is what the National Animal Disease Center is all about.