Abstract facility operator with energy improvement symbols.

WPS Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Forum

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 | Lambeau Field, 6th Floor Indoor Club and Loft, 1265 Lombardi Ave, Green Bay, WI

Take your business to the next level and learn about techniques for increasing the energy efficiency of your facility. Join us in-person for an impactful morning of technical sessions offered for Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) business customers and trade allies. We’ll wrap up the day with a facility tour of Lambeau field where participants will have an opportunity to explore the various energy-efficiency improvements installed at Lambeau Field! Our experts will cover opportunities to fund projects, as well as deep dives into improving the performance of your cooling towers and enhancing your power quality management systems.

We are bringing local and regional experts direct to you in Green Bay to help solve your energy challenges. Attendees will gain insights into new strategies and techniques to save energy and costs in their own buildings and for their customers. This half day technical forum includes sessions on:

Strategies for making your cooling tower as energy efficient as possible and lower your utility costs
Methods for understanding power quality and how to best manage it in your facility when making improvements
Exploration of available commercial PACE financing, Focus on Energy rebates, and IRA grants and federal funding to make improvements to your facility

At the end of the session, you won’t want to miss the tour of Lambeau Field and see these concepts in action. The tour will include some of Lambeau Field’s most iconic energy-efficiency improvements including:

Lambeau Field’s field heating system
Stadium lights and jumbotron energy usage
Stadium fans and HVAC systems

Whether you are just starting to make improvements to your business, or you are looking for the next step in your journey, the forum will have something for you. You’ll also be able to engage with our experts, both local WPS staff and our energy efficiency team, to talk about your projects in more detail.

7:30 - 8:00 AM: Registration, networking breakfast

8:00 - 8:15 AM: Welcome

Syed Abbas, Director of Education and Training, Slipstream
Greg Smedema, Manager of Key Accounts, WPS

8:15 - 8:45 AM: Ask the Experts

David Nyquist, CEM, Outreach Manager, Focus on Energy - Focus on Energy incentive and rebate program updates
Kimberly Johnston, Market Development Director-PACE, Slipstream - C-PACE Wisconsin financing overview
Robin Lisowski, Director of Service Solutions, Slipstream - Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) update

8:45 - 9:45 AM: Featured session - Strategies to increase cooling tower efficiency

Kate Brebrick, Energy Engineer, Kinergetics
Learn more about this session in the Featured Sessions section below

9:45 - 10:00 AM: Networking break

10:00 - 11:00 AM: Featured session - Power quality management

John Houdek, President and Co-owner, Allied Industrial Marketing, Inc.
Learn more about this session in the Featured Sessions section below

11:00 - 11:05 AM: Introduction with Lambeau Field

Justin Dantzman, Assistant Director of Facility Operations, Green Bay Packers

Adjourn or Break before optional tours
Optional Lambeau Field Stadium Mechanical and Electrical Facility Tour - Three tour window options

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM: Tour group 1
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM: Tour group 2
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM: Tour group 3

Strategies to increase cooling tower efficiency 
Kate Brebrick

Knowing how to make your cooling tower as energy efficient as possible can save your facility energy, water, and operating costs. It can also help extend the equipment service life and decrease the amount of chemicals required for water treatment. So, how do you recognize when your cooling tower can be more energy efficient and what the impact could be?

Our expert speaker will highlight the major components of a cooling tower and provide insight on the things that impact system performance and cost of operation. This will include a live demonstration using a cooling tower model to show common efficiency opportunities and their impact. With these examples and real data, the session will illustrate energy efficiency gains possible in cooling towers.

Attendees will be able to:

Describe the difference between cooling towers, dry-coolers, and adiabatic coolers
Identify the potential causes of poor cooling tower performance
Recognize the potential for poor cooling tower performance to impact other operations
Understand the impact of different conditions n cooling tower performance through our cooling tower demonstration

Power quality management  
John Houdek

Understanding the quality of power in your facility is key to ensuring successful implementation of energy-efficiency improvements. In this session our expert speaker will offer insights into the power quality impacts of two common energy-efficiency improvements: variable frequency drive (VFD) motor controls and LED lighting. The session will provide a deep dive into the energy savings available with these improvements and how they can impact your power quality, including:

The power quality influences such as voltage transients, harmonics, as well as motor winding and bearing protection when installing VFDs.
The power quality considerations when installing LEDs such as harmonic distortion caused by LEDs and lamp susceptibility to adverse power conditions like over-voltage and voltage distortion.

In this session, you will gain a general understanding of the various types of power quality problems that can be anticipated when making typical energy efficiency improvements as well as methods to avoid power quality problems.

We look forward to seeing you at Lambeau Field! Here are some tips to help you get to the event:

When you arrive at Lambeau Field, please park in the lot off Ridge Road in front of the Bellin Health Gate (marked with the red pin in the map below).
At the Bellin Health Gate, there will be a guest service representative to welcome you and direct you to the 6th Floor Indoor Clubs North Loft.
Parking is free!
For more information and another map, feel free to use this resource from Lambeau Field.

Please see our Education & Training FAQ, or visit our webinar catalog to access Slipstream's entire collection of on-demand recordings.

Speakers

Kate Brebrick
Energy Engineer
Kinergetics

Kate Brebrick is an Energy Engineer at Kinergetics, LLC (2017 to present) and has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kinergetics provides detailed energy investigations for power and thermal energy use reductions as well as design, engineering, and debottlenecking. Kinergetics has extensive experience with process cooling, refrigeration, and cooling towers, including efficiency selecting, field testing, and design and verification of performance requirements.

John Houdek, Allied Industrial Marketing, Inc.

John Houdek
President and Co-owner
Allied Industrial Marketing, Inc.

John Houdek is president and co-owner of Allied Industrial Marketing, Inc., a company that specializes in electrical power quality. John serves the power quality industry as a resource for a variety of services including: power quality problem diagnosis and filter design, harmonic analysis, computer simulation, training and seminars, and technical marketing support for key components used in the assembly of high-performance power quality equipment.

Prior to forming Allied Industrial Marketing, John held senior management positions for two electrical power quality equipment manufacturers. John earned an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management in 1989 and has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering technology from MSOE, where for twenty years he also taught a course in Electrical Power Quality for Buildings. John is a Life Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

David Nyquist
Outreach Manager
Focus on Energy

David has worked with Focus on Energy for over 10 years and has been in the energy efficiency industry for 16 years. He is currently the Outreach Manager and oversees a team of advisors that work closely with trade allies. David is also a Certified Energy Manager. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids at the family cabin and traveling to National Parks.

Kimberly Johnston
Market Development Director - PACE
Slipstream

Kimberly Johnston is the Market Development Director - PACE with more than 15 years of experience in marketing, communications, project management, strategic business plan development and market research. She leads marketing and educational efforts for a number of Slipstream’s clients—promoting a wide variety of energy saving programs, products, services, and incentives. Kimberly’s expertise ranges from executing the smallest of outreach tactics to building entire brands from scratch. She is dedicated to meeting her client and team’s goals in an efficient and innovative manner.

Robin Lisowski
Managing Director of Policy
Slipstream

Robin is Director of Service Solutions at Slipstream, where she leads new service development efforts. Robin has more than 20 years of experience conducting and managing technical and policy analysis projects, facilitating stakeholder engagement processes, and designing programs in public, for-profit, and nonprofit environments. She has worked directly with state and local governments and energy utilities for 18 years and in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industry since 2008 when she became the Assistant Director of the Business Programs Portfolio for Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program. Robin is an interdisciplinary thinker and doer with a passion for clean energy and environmental justice policy. In her work, she has a reputation for centering these passions alongside analytical rigor and the importance of understanding human experience with and attitudes toward energy efficiency, electrification, and other clean energy options in buildings and transportation.

Justin Dantzman
Assistant Director of Facility Operations
Green Bay Packers

Justin Dantzman is the Assistant Director of Facility Operations for the Green Bay Packers and has been with the organization for 11 years.

Greg Smedema
Manager of Key Accounts
WPS

Greg Smedema was named Manager – Key Accounts for WEC Energy Group in August 2022. In this role, Smedema is responsible for the 350 largest We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service industrial and commercial customers, managing a team of 10 account managers with the assistance of two business analysts.

Smedema started his WEC Energy Group career with We Energies in 2011 as an Agricultural Account Manager. In that role, he was the primary contact for agricultural customers’ needs ranging from billing and services to stray voltage. Prior to this role, he worked as an Energy Efficiency Advisor contracted to We Energies through Franklin Energy since 2007. In August 2018, he became Operations Supervisor – Major Projects, Natural Gas, supporting seasonal gas inspectors and contract crews installing projects in the Fox Valley area. 2020 saw Smedema return to account management as a Principal Account Manager in the We Energies Key Account Group.

Smedema holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agri-business with an emphasis in Agricultural Engineering Technology from UW-Platteville. He has served on a number of non-profit, promotion and economic development boards, as well as completing the Leadership Fox Cities Program.

WPS Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Forum

Wednesday, September 27, 2023 | Lambeau Field, 6th Floor Indoor Club and Loft, 1265 Lombardi Ave, Green Bay, WI

Overview

Agenda

Featured Sessions

Event Parking Details

Questions