In the News

Bath, Maine (April 11, 2013) — The historic Hyde Mansion sits atop a gentle sloping hill on The Hyde School campus in Bath, striking a Maine parallel to the current PBS hit series, Downton Abbey. While education is their main focus, school officials are pleased with the recent conversion from oil to natural gas. Their investment has a one-year pay back, scoring an A+ for energy savings and sound business planning.

“The transition from oil to gas was seamless,” remarks Hyde School Executive Business Manager Cindy Morgan. Hyde School worked with Mechanical Services, a statewide HVAC company starting in September of 2012 after the pipeline was installed last summer.

Fourteen buildings on campus are now heated with natural gas from the Hyde Mansion to the newly constructed residence hall. “Each building presented a different set of issues and Mechanical Services worked with us to create unique solutions,” says George Paton, Hyde School facilities manager.

“The Hyde School conversion to natural gas is a perfect example of how new technology is helping save energy and money in ways unimaginable when the facility was built a century ago,” says Mechanical Services President Chris Green. “The original heat source was coal and our team thrived on creating solutions to meet each job’s specifications.”

Underneath the mansion’s gracefully-appointed rooms, oil-fired steam boilers are equipped with state of the art Webster natural gas burners with an Autoflame Combustion Management system. In addition, Mechanical Services installed a code compliant stainless steel lining system in the 100-year old chimney.

PORTLAND, ME (November 15, 2012) — Mechanical Services has been named 2012 Contractor of the Year by Efficiency Maine. The statewide energy efficiency trust recognized a number of its customers and business partners at their Annual Awards event held in Freeport.

Mechanical Services was the first honoree of the evening. Michael Stodddard, Executive Director for Efficiency Maine, recognized Mechanical Services for the 42 Efficiency Maine projects completed over the course of the past year. These projects are saving Maine businesses about 785,000 kWh each year. David Clay, Director of Product and Energy Services, accepted the award on behalf of Mechanical Services.

Read more about it: Press Herald, MaineBiz

Bangor Daily News, October 27, 2012

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Aroostook Medical Center became the first health care organization in the state and possibly the nation to break ground on a project that will result in a hospital being heated with compressed natural gas.

The hospital has been working for several months with partners Mechanical Services, Inc., which has four locations in Maine, including Presque Isle, and New England-based Xpress Natural Gas, or XNG, to develop specific details for the conversion. Mechanical Services introduced the concept of CNG to TAMC, and will provide the expertise for the boiler house piping and burner conversion.

Read the whole story here.

Portland, ME (July 2012) — The Portland International Jetport has won LEED Gold certification — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The Jetport is only the second commercial airport in the country to receive this coveted LEED Gold designation.

A key element in the Jetport design is energy-saving environmental controls installed by Mechanical Services and Maine Controls. Our state-of-the-art technology helps the Jetport manage high-efficiency systems as part of its recent $77 million expansion.

Maine Controls’ Energy Management System supports the Jetport’s geothermal impressive heating and cooling system, which is the largest in Maine. The system absorbs the earth’s heat in winter and uses it in summer. It is expected to save the Jetport 50,000 gallons of fuel oil annually.

Mechanical Services Offers Cost Saving, Energy Efficient HVAC Solutions

Portland, ME (April 9, 2012) — Aptly named, Chris Green, owner and president of Mechanical Services, has helped hundreds of businesses throughout Aroostook County install energy efficient equipment in order to GO Green by improving the environment and GROW Green by reducing utility costs and improving their bottom lines. From optimizing existing systems to designing never-before-seen custom systems, Aroostook County businesses are utilizing energy efficiency services in a variety of ways. Here are three outstanding examples:

Graves Shop n’ Save in Presque Isle recently received an Environmental Leader designation from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for efforts it made toward making the store a greener, more environmentally friendly location. One effort in particular, has had a significant impact on reducing the store’s carbon emissions and lowering electricity costs. Mechanical Services replaced inefficient refrigeration compressors and controls with variable speed compressors that run only when cooling is needed. This one improvement is projected to keep more than 350,000 cubic tons of greenhouse gas out of the air and save the store almost $40,000 each year in electricity and maintenance costs.

In Houlton, an energy audit of the Houlton Regional Hospital revealed the boilers weren’t operating as efficiently as possible. Mechanical Services designed and installed new high efficiency systems featuring two Webster burners and Autoflame computerized combustion controls. The improvements save the hospital about $20,000 a year in fuel costs and $10,000 a year in electricity costs. Beyond financial benefits, the hospital is helping to keep about 100,000 cubic tons of carbon dioxide out of the air.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal weather agency, hired Mechanical Services to revamp the HVAC system at its Caribou weather station – maximizing energy efficiency and prolonging equipment life. The existing geothermal system was inadequate and consistently plagued with technical problems. Mechanical Services modified the building’s heating system and installed state-of-the-art air-to-air heat pumps, air-sourced free cooling equipment and updated the existing geothermal well. These modifications allowed the facility to maintain its federal “Green” status and made this NOAA facility one of the most energy efficient facilities in the country. It’s a completely carbon free facility with zero emissions.

Green believes these types of capital improvements are not only the trend here in Maine, but a necessary means for helping Maine businesses thrive. “We’ve installed energy efficient HVAC equipment and controls all over Aroostook County,” he says. “Business owners understand the costs and benefits of implementing new technologies to reduce fuel and electricity expenses.”

Ocean-based “Sea-o-thermal” HVAC System Used at SMCC

Portland, ME (April 4, 2012) — Southern Maine Community College in South Portland partnered with a team of energy professionals to design and install an innovative ocean-based geothermal – or “sea-o-thermal” HVAC system in the Lighthouse building. The energy efficient system either absorbs or rejects heat from nearby seawater to bring a closed-loop glycol-heating coil to temperature. The system is completely environmentally friendly – releasing no byproducts into the water and requiring no fossil fuels. This innovative system makes regulating the building’s temperature easy and is three times more efficient than conventional heating and cooling systems.

“The ocean is an amazing energy source,” says SMCC’s Dean of Admission Scott Beatty. “Even in the winter it provides potential heat that can be extracted and used to make the Lighthouse building comfortable.” This project was designed to use only electricity and energy harnessed from Casco Bay, no other fuel required. It’s 100% clean, producing no greenhouse gas emissions other than those created by electricity generation.

“This is a zoned facility with true heat recovery technology,” says Chris Green owner of Mechanical Services, the company involved with design and responsible for installation. “Each room has its own thermostat allowing occupants to control the temperature in each zone.”

The unique ocean-based system is the only one like it in Maine and proving to be highly efficient. Previously, the college consumed about 2,000 gallons of oil a year to heat the essentially unoccupied Lighthouse building. Now, thanks to the new “sea-o-thermal” system, the building is used full time and doesn’t require any fossil fuel for heating – saving the school about $7,200 in heating costs each year. In addition the “sea-o-thermal” system is also being used to air condition the building during summer months – a comfort that was not part of the old HVAC system.

The individual room’s environment is controlled by a state-of-the-art system which also controls the flow of sea water used by the system. A touch screen located in the building lobby allows the building occupants and visitors to view the system’s operation. The control system was designed and installed by Maine Controls

Mechanical Services, a statewide HVAC contractor, helped design the system and was responsible for its installation.

(August 2009) — When the Aroostook Centre Mall in Presque Isle determined that its energy technology was obsolete and more importantly, uneconomical, it looked to Mechanical Services to help.

The mall conducted an energy audit and found it was using an excessive amount of electricity to heat and air condition its vast retail space. One of the first solutions was to upgrade to a more efficient propane heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit — and recycle the old electric-fired 20-ton units.

It’s the first step to a greener mall says General Manager Patti Crook. See the full report from WAGM-TV 8.

(April 2008) — In a recent news story about the Governor’s Energy Conference on WCSH 6 — the local NBC TV affiliate — expert Jim Poitras from Mechanical Services pointed out that the cost savings from installing energy efficient systems can be very real.

“We’ve done projects with less than a year payback and a substantial amount of money. We’re talking sixty, seventy thousand dollars with a one year pay back on high efficiency combustion controls.”