Case Study: Howard Theatre
- Boland
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
Howard Theatre
Washington, D.C.
CHALLENGE
Since 2018, Boland has provided HVAC services to the historic Howard Theatre in the heart of Washington, DC. After years of operating an aging and inefficient system, the Theatre’s team recognized the need to replace their air-cooled chiller with a more modern, energy-efficient solution.
Owner Chip Ellis noted that the building was spending more than $250,000 annually on utilities. The primary challenge was to dramatically reduce energy consumption and operating costs — without requiring any structural redesign or disruption to the landmark facility.
SOLUTION
Boland proposed a turnkey project to upgrade the existing HVAC equipment and Building Automation System (BAS) with more sustainable systems, including:
Trane® Tracer SC+ Synchrony BAS and Air-Fi® unit controls architecture
130-ton Air-Cooled Trane® CGAM Chiller & 12.5-ton Trane® Precedent® Rooftop Unit
In addition to the upgrades, Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) such as Air-Cooled Chiller Optimization and Fan Pressure Optimization were implemented to monitor and optimize the theater's energy consumption and demand profiles.
RESULTS
The implementation of the HVAC upgrades, repairs, and ECMs is projected to result in the following:
$62,900 in annual cost savings
258,523 kWh in annual energy usage savings
110 Metric Tons of CO2e reduced annually
Howard Theatre also qualified for an incentive of over $27,000 from the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU), which was proposed and submitted by Boland’s Energy Solutions team. Boland was recently recognized by Howard Theatre, DCSEU, and multiple DC Council Members for our part in their clean energy upgrades, linking environmental sustainability with cultural preservation and community development.