Facilities Project Manager Speaks at International Conference

Founded in 1977, the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) is a nonprofit professional society whose stated mission is “to promote the scientific and educational interests of those engaged in the energy industry and to foster action for sustainable development.” In pursuit of that mission, AEE annually hosts four conferences, the largest of which is the international AEE World Energy Conference and Exposition. Normally a live event, the 2020 World Energy Conference was held virtually in Dec. 2020.

NOVA is proud to have Miles Smith as a CBRE Heery contractor embedded as staff within Facilities Planning and Support Services (FPSS). Miles is NOVA’s Senior Energy Project Manager and, for three years running, his abstracts were accepted by, and he spoke at, the World Energy Conference. As a subject matter expert on utility rates and tariffs, his presentation ‘Rate Comprehension is Fundamental to Energy Project Success’ has been well received by the energy community. His lecture explains, in technical but straightforward terms, how to deconstruct complex utility rates so that project managers, energy managers and others can understand how they are paying for energy and how they can precisely calculate unit costs of the disaggregated components.

As a member of the FPSS project team under the leadership of Steve Patterson and Martha Cardoza, Commonwealth of Virginia taxpayers have benefitted greatly from Miles’ vast experience and his application of these principles to NOVA projects and utility accounts. A few efforts that Miles led and that highlight the principles outlined in his presentation include identification of:

• Numerous rate calculation errors that led an Annandale Campus (AN) thermal storage project consultant to erroneously conclude the project would have a positive return on investment. We were able to cancel the project before investing in it.
• An improper contract minimum charge at the Medical Education Campus (MEC) that resulted in NOVA paying for power demand we never used. Remediation of this error cost almost nothing and resulted in ongoing annual savings of $40k, forever.
• A rate-switching opportunity at the Alexandria Campus (AL) Beauregard parking garage involved Miles’ LED retrofit project reducing kW demand below a critical threshold that allowed us to move from the Dominion Energy 6VA rate to the 5VA rate. NOVA reduced utility expenditures three ways from this project: energy reduction and savings from the LED retrofit itself, the rate switching opportunity and incentive remuneration from the local grid operator (PJM) for permanent electrical demand reduction.

The FPSS team continually strives to improve college aesthetics, comfort and safety while keeping operating expenses low and attention to sustainability and the environment high. Miles appreciates the opportunity to contribute to the team. And he not only works at NOVA, he is a double NOVA graduate, having earned the A.A.S. in Electronics Technology (cum laude, 1987) and the HVAC-R Career Studies Certificate (cum laude, 2020). He also holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems (GMU, 1996) and three AEE energy certifications.