RC Willey has over 60 vehicles at their distribution center in Salt Lake City and does hundreds of deliveries a day.
Rocky Mountain Power's Wattsmart Business program helped them install engine block heater controllers on their fleet vehicles to help them save energy and money on their power bill.
You could think of engine block heater controllers as "an extension cord with brains".
These are designed to work with block heaters on diesel engines. A diesel can be difficult to start in the cold, so they have engine block heaters. Typically, a driver will plug the block heater in so that the truck will start easily.
The way the Power Badger provides energy savings is by setting a start ready time.
If your driver got off shift at 3pm and was leaving the next morning at 6am, he'd plug in his block heater, and it would run from 3pm to 6am.
A Power Badger allows the block heater to be ready by 6am. It calculates the ambient temperature and how long it will take to warm the engine block and turns itself on when necessary.
Some nights are warmer than others, so in the spring and fall, the Power Badger may not even turn on. This saves a ton of energy.
The savings for RC Willey for this project are 281,061 kWh, or $11,130 per year.
The incentive pays for 100 percent of the material costs.
Karl Anderson, VP of Operations at RC Willey says, "By filling out the Rocky Mountain Power application and working with Wattsmart, we delivered 61 units at no cost. RC Willey installed the Power Badgers and have been enjoying energy savings since late fall."
Energy savings is a high priority for RC Willey and they have participated in even more energy savings projects including lighting and HVAC.
For more information on how other businesses can get engine block heater controllers call 385-300-0150 and a Rocky Mountain Power representative will be happy to assist!
Jessica Dalton, Rocky Mountain Power Spokesperson, says their Wattsmart Homes program offers engine block heater controllers to residential customers too.
If you own a diesel vehicle, you can get an engine block heater controller as well by visiting Wattsmarthomes.com. Rebates are available for up to $125.
