Case Study: Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago is more than the home of world-famous artworks.
It is a complex of museum, college-level art school, dormitory, administration, and warehouse buildings—all together nine buildings in downtown Chicago. The Art Institute uses Stonewater to manage their utility bills as carefully as they manage their priceless collections.
The Problem: The Art Institute pays hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for energy—electricity, gas and oil. They wanted to check energy bills for accuracy and to aggregate energy data to get better prices from suppliers. They also needed real-time energy use data so they could shift energy demand at times when prices are high.
The Solution: Stonewater provides The Art Institute with a comprehensive program to verify and manage their utility use. Stonewater provides data to "shadow bill" energy suppliers to predict costs and check bills for accuracy. Using Stonewater's real-time data, The Art Institute is able to shift operating equipment from expensive sources to alternate fuels or to in-house generators.
Results: While conducting an audit of energy bills, The Art Institute discovered significant savings. Facilities managers have shifted energy-consuming maintenance activities from peak times to times when energy prices are lower. With Stonewater, The Art Institute now has independent performance feedback on load reduction as part of a local utility curtailment program.