A penny saved is a penny earned, especially during a time of economic downturn. Among the wealth of knowledge shared during the Energy Summit, Uintah Basin companies upped their survival skills by learning new ways to mitigate costs through energy efficiency. The wattsmart Business Program offered through Rocky Mountain Power attracted attention for its impressive potential to save Basin companies energy, time and of course, money. “It was great to be in Vernal for the Uintah Basin Energy Summit,” shares wattsmart program manager Luke Werner. “We had a good response from companies interested in what wattsmart is all about and how it can help their own facilities improve efficiency for great savings.” Marathon Oil Corporation is an example of a company in the region that put the program to the test. Working with Rocky Mountain Power since 2008, Marathon Oil made energy efficient upgrades to their facilities for an annual energy savings of $271,000. The cost of the upgrades themselves did amount to $733,100 but after shaving off over half a million dollars in incentive payments, their final cost was made up in less than one year of energy savings. While any kind of investment can be difficult for Uintah Basin companies at this time, wattsmart is in the business of consulting with companies and then providing a breakdown of what their unique energy savings could look like, so each company is armed with knowledge to make the decision for their situation. To learn more, visit
www.wattsmart.com
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