Donnelly Energy on Tuesday said that Cobblestone Creek Country Club completed its first phase of energy efficiency upgrades through Public Service Electric & Gas‘ Direct Install, a commercial clean energy program offering incentives for lighting and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (or HVAC) upgrades.
Located in Lawrence Township, Cobblestone Creek Country Club became concerned about a rise in its energy usage and utility bills, reaching out to Wayne-based Donnelly Energy for help.
Donnelly Energy, an energy efficiency firm, conducted a free, non-invasive assessment of the clubhouse, determining the cause of Cobblestone Creek’s issue: a large number of areas had inefficient fluorescent lighting, and the club had aging HVAC equipment that was over 10 years past its life span.
“Cobblestone Creek has been diligently working on plans to renovate and modernize the clubhouse for our members. We are dedicated to providing our members with state-of-the-art facilities and becoming energy-efficient is a big part of that,” Jay Nusblatt, president of Cobblestone Creek Country Club, said. “Once we saw the incentives from PSE&G and our energy savings, it became a no-brainer to move forward with an upgrade.”
Donnelly Energy and Cobblestone Creek worked together to create the best and most cost-efficient plan of action for the club, which included retrofitting existing lighting with brand new DLC-certified Energy Star LEDs, replacing eight of the HVAC rooftop units with high-efficiency equipment, and upgrading two boiler systems.
The full energy efficiency upgrade would save the club 69,798 kilowatt-hours annually in electricity usage and 7,835 therms in gas usage, reducing a combined 91 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere. (That’s enough to power 11 homes.)
Because Donnelly Energy is a participating contractor with PSE&G’s Direct Install, Cobblestone Creek received over $460,000 in upfront incentives to help cover project costs, with the rest being financed at 0% APR over the next five years. This resulted in no out-of-pocket expenses for the club and, more importantly, no additional costs to its members.
The first phase of work focused on upgrading the lighting within the clubhouse, including kitchen areas, offices, locker rooms and more. All of the club’s rooftop units were also replaced as well, with the rest of the project expected to be completed in the fall.
“As New Jersey and PSE&G continue to progress towards a Clean Energy future, we have been fortunate enough to be a part of the journey,” Justin Avallone, vice president of programs for Donnelly Energy, said. “Donnelly has a special connection within New Jersey’s golf scene, as the preferred energy vendor for the New Jersey State Golf Association. Being able to help country clubs ‘go green’ has always been a big passion of ours.”
