GREEN GAMING: GLI — A case study in sustainability
by Eric Hansel
May 1, 2010
I met GLI Vice President and co-founder Paul Magno a few years back,
and almost immediately we began work on what has now become the Sustainable
Gaming Standards Committee. Magno’s understanding of how electronic gaming
machines work helped our initial core team develop the framework for this
industry-changing standard.
Around that same time, Magno started to ask
about how we could help make GLI more energy-efficient. It was clear to him that
if standards from the SGSC would make electronic
gaming machines 50 percent more energy-efficient within five years then he
could start the wheels moving to make GLI more energy-efficient and a model of
sustainability for the industry.
It was a natural place for Magno’s thought
process to go, as GLI has thousands of square footage of space filled with
electronic gaming equipment and machines testing the equipment, in addition to
thousands of square feet of office space filled with computers, HVAC equipment,
lights and everything else a global corporation needs for daily
operations.
Once Magno and I began meeting regularly it became clear to me
that his understanding and enthusiasm was being transferred to GLI President
and co-founder James Maida and to Bob Schrader, GLI’s director of field
inspections, who, in addition to overseeing inspections, is in charge of all
facilities projects for GLI’s 13 labs around the world. As a recognized leader
in the gaming industry, GLI wanted to show its clients that being green was the
right thing to do, and is profitable as well.
Everyone on the team understood achieving maximum
energy efficiency would be a
process, starting with low-hanging fruit
(on a two-or-three-year ROI
schedule), secondary projects (three-to-five-year ROI) and tertiary or
long-term projects (greater than five-year ROI). Included within this process
would eventually be the creation of a “chief sustainability officer” position
so that there would be one point of contact for all sustainability decisions.
In February 2009, EGM Green performed
a lighting retrofit at GLI’s world headquarters in Lakewood, N.J., resulting in
an energy savings of 40 percent of their existing electric usage for lighting.
Additionally, we supplied and installed a patent-pending T8 lighting controller
to provide 16 percent energy savings whenever the lights were on and 67 percent
“KW Demand” savings during a power grid “event” — that is, when
the PJM Grid would be stressed and in need of voluntary load reduction on the part of its end
users. The lighting retrofit and controller installation
resulted in an 11 percent average monthly electric savings on usage for the
entire facility.
We then moved to Phase II of the project,
supplying and installing a Building Automation System (BAS) to replace the 17
independent thermostats located throughout the facility that operated gas
heat/electric cooling rooftop units. Now the entire GLI facility is under
centralized direct digital control by a BAS with artificial intelligence. As a
result of the intelligence gathered by the BAS, EGM Green and our team was able
to determine the following deficiencies:
1) 65 percent of the existing HVAC
economizers were not working at full capacity. The net result was a loss of
space cooling savings from October through April when low outside air
temperature and humidity do not require cooling compressors to turn
on.
2) A Variable Air Volume system was required
for the executive offices and adjacent secretarial pool.
3) An existing 20-ton rooftop gas heat/electric cooling rooftop
unit was running needlessly to provide for the data center’s 7.5 tons of space
cooling needs.
4) Daylight harvesting was not being taken advantage of. Plenty of
day lighting enters the perimeter glass so the existing lighting by those areas
can be shut off.
5) The existing HVAC systems were not operating at peak efficiency
because of advanced age, condition, duct and coil dirt and other optimization
requirements.
6) Nano ceramic window film for all perimeter glass facing the
south and west sun would decrease unnecessary space
cooling.
GLI then had EGM Green supply and install “Smart Grid” technology
that would be capable of “dumping” unnecessary electrical load during a power
grid “event”. This feature was used on both HVAC and lighting and worked
flawlessly. This decision was made even easier as GLI found out that there were
only a handful of “events” over the last five years. GLI then had us supply and
install an additional module designed off the “Smart Grid” technology to
provide 24/7 energy savings. As a result, the average energy savings climbed
from 11 percent per month of total electric usage to 20 percent per
month.
Future plans for the world headquarters and
other GLI labs include the use of renewable energy, such as solar and/or solar
thermal power. The company also is considering U.S. Green Building Council LEED
Certification and is considering augmenting their “Smart Grid” technology to
include solar PV collectors combined with a managed battery system. Once this
is accomplished, GLI’s headquarters will be the first LEED-certified facility
of its kind in the world and a model of sustainability for manufacturers,
operators and all those in the gaming industry.
Eric Hansel
is
the president of EGM Green, the manufacturer of the world’s first eco-friendly
casino tables. Hansel is also leading a team that is coming up with a slot
machine sustainability standard. This standard will pull 25 percent of the
energy used to power slot machines out in the first year. EGM Green also does
lighting retrofits, energy audits, and custom carbon off-set calculation and
implementation. The company also offers expertise in alternative energy from
solar to wind and geothermal. For more
information, contact Hansel at eric@egmgreen.com or (201) 927-3526.
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