Even Greener Golf Courses in America?

Today I had the privilege of meeting Andy Jorgensen and toured his maintenance facility at Candler Hills Golf course.  We could search high and low and not find a better poster child for the energy and cost savings initiatives we want to roll through the nation’s golf courses.

What you see above is their maintenance building, and while there is always something next that can be done (he’s in process converting the lights to LED as each burns out), he has gone a long way to epitomize what we help our clients do:  Energy audit,  efficiency inspection (where to soda machines draining energy and netting zero money were offloaded), and solar on the roof in 2011 for the 8,800 foot building that sends unused power back to the utility (called net metering).

While there, I heard something kick on, which turned out is the largest user of electricity left…the air compressor.  This is of course off at nights, so not a problem for the solar.  His installation is similar to many of our commercial clients with water heaters and pumps to wash machinery, with the addition of the golf-specific pumps that are the night-time irrigation elves delivering water to parts of the course.

Solar energy is a way to make US golf courses greener still.

As a member of the National Golf Course Owner’s Association, North American Energy Advisory is actively consulting courses and golf management companies across America to ensure they minimize their energy spend.  In those states without an Energy Choice program (Florida has only natural gas deregulated), with competitive suppliers providing cheaper electricity or natural gas, the best option we have found for keeping costs down is to fit solar into their equation.

There are variables, of course, especially nearby trees for golf courses, direction the building faces, if there is land that can be used for ground-mount solar, how much of the monthly cost the client would like to offset, and more.  With our solar network, we handle the analysis, design, financing and installation for your specific location(s) since each organization uses energy differently.

If you are interested in following Andy’s good example and saving both money environmental impact, then contact us today. We can get started with a recent copy of your bills for each location which allow us to tailor the program based on your use of energy.

John Miles

Dir. Marketing,

North American Energy Advisory