A Wheaton office building. 22,000 square feet. Occupied for 11 years, well-managed, no major deferred maintenance.
When the property manager sat down with an energy auditor last April, the expectation was modest: maybe some LED retrofit recommendations and a modest rebate.
What the audit turned up: an HVAC system running 18% less efficiently than it should have been due to dirty coil surfaces and an economizer that hadn’t been functioning correctly for at least two seasons. Combined with an aging lighting package, the property was leaving roughly $14,000 per year on the table in utility costs — and qualified for $11,400 in combined ComEd and Peoples Gas rebates.
The rebate check took eight weeks. The efficiency improvements took three days of scheduled work. The operational savings began immediately.
The ComEd Energy Efficiency Program
ComEd offers prescriptive rebates for commercial buildings on qualifying improvements: LED lighting retrofits, HVAC upgrades, variable frequency drives, motors, and more. Prescriptive rebates are straightforward — install qualifying equipment, submit the application, receive payment. Custom rebates cover larger or more complex projects and require an audit but can return significantly more.
Program budgets are highest in Q1 and Q2. By late summer, some incentive tiers begin to tighten.
The Peoples Gas Efficiency Program
If your building uses natural gas for heating, Peoples Gas offers rebates for high-efficiency boiler replacements, pipe insulation, boiler tune-ups, and building envelope improvements. Stacking ComEd and Peoples Gas incentives on a single project is common and makes many upgrades cost-neutral or better within the first year.
If your building uses natural gas for heating, Peoples Gas offers rebates for high-efficiency boiler replacements, pipe insulation, boiler tune-ups, and building envelope improvements. Stacking ComEd and Peoples Gas incentives on a single project is common and makes many upgrades cost-neutral or better within the first year.
ENERGY STAR Benchmarking
Commercial buildings over 50,000 sq ft in the City of Chicago are required to benchmark under the Chicago Energy Benchmarking Ordinance, with an annual deadline of June 1. For suburban DuPage County properties, benchmarking is voluntary — but useful. It tells you how your building compares to similar properties and identifies where utility cost reduction is most available.
The quick win list:
- LED lighting retrofit — highest rebate per dollar invested, fastest payback
- HVAC recommissioning — low cost, immediate efficiency gain, often qualifies for rebate
- Pipe insulation — underutilized, eligible for Peoples Gas rebates
- Sub-metering tenant spaces — identify who’s consuming what
- Building envelope air sealing — often overlooked, meaningful impact on heating/cooling load
One thing nobody budgets for
How much energy your HVAC wastes when rooftop equipment is coated in dirt, debris, and biological matter. Airflow restriction caused by dirty coil surfaces translates directly to longer run cycles and higher utility bills. A clean RTU runs measurably more efficiently than a neglected one. That’s not marketing — that’s mechanical engineering.
Request a Free Estimate
At Rolling Suds of Naperville–Elmhurst, we help commercial properties across DuPage County and selective surrounding cities identify exterior water issues, recurring runoff patterns, high-risk pedestrian zones, and preventable maintenance problems.
We combine:
- commercial-first service
- advanced surface cleaning equipment
- practical maintenance insight
- technology-forward documentation
- smarter exterior maintenance planning
Rolling Suds of Naperville–Elmhurst
(630) 448-7014
rollingsudspowerwashing.com/commercial
