Honeywell Smart Grid Program in California Receives Energy Project of the Year Award

MINNEAPOLIS, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced that the company's smart grid project with Custom Building Products won the "Energy Project of the Year" award from the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The Honeywell project provides Custom Building Products with precise control over how its Bell, Calif., manufacturing facility uses energy, enabling it to automatically respond to changing peak electricity prices and trim utility bills.

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The award recognizes the project for its high level of substantiated savings, which will enable the work to pay for itself within an estimated five months. Custom Building Products, a manufacturer of supplies for the construction industry, offset the $80,000 total project cost with rebates from Southern California Edison (SCE) and support from a Smart Grid Investment Grant Honeywell received from the Department of Energy in late 2009. Those funds lowered the out-of-pocket expenses to less than $3,000. And Custom Building Products expects to realize $6,000 in annual energy savings due to the upgrades and the resulting enhanced control.

For the project, Custom Building Products enrolled its 142,000-square-foot building in an automated demand response (Auto DR) program, managed by Honeywell, to control how facility equipment responds to SCE's dynamic pricing structure. The structure bases electricity rates for commercial and industrial customers on consumption levels and generation costs, meaning prices rise significantly during periods of peak demand.  

Engineers installed technology to enable the facility's existing automation system to receive and respond to price signals SCE sends using the Akuacom Demand Response Automation Server (DRAS) from Honeywell. The smart grid software automatically triggers load-shedding measures that Custom Building Products and Honeywell developed and programmed in advance. This includes safely shutting down all but two manufacturing lines during a peak pricing event to save costs while maintaining adequate production levels.

"This project enabled us to optimize our production lines to react to dynamic pricing, maximizing our energy savings in the process," said Jim Bell, facilities and maintenance manager for Custom Building Products. "Honeywell also uncovered energy-efficiency opportunities while helping implement our complex automation strategies, which will lead to both short-term and permanent cost savings."

As a result of the Honeywell's Auto DR strategies, Custom Building Products can shed more than 330 kilowatts of its typical 520-kilowatt load during events for substantial savings.

In addition, Honeywell centralized energy management at the facility, enabling better monitoring and control of automated load reductions. This is also helping Custom Building Products meet Air Quality Management District (AQMD) standards in Southern California.

Honeywell and the Smart Grid
Honeywell has a legacy of working with utilities and their customers, giving it a unique perspective on how to quickly realize the benefits of the evolving grid. With controls in more than 150 million homes, 10 million buildings and thousands of industrial sites, and experience managing demand response and energy efficiency programs for more than 100 utilities, Honeywell has the offerings and experience to empower smart energy users. Visit www.honeywellsmartgrid.com for additional detail on the company's smart grid technology and services.

Custom Building Products
Custom® Building Products is widely recognized as a leading manufacturer of tile and stone installation systems for the North American market. Custom Building Products continually raises the standards for the tile and stone industry through its commitment to innovation, performance and exceptional customer service. For more information on the company's broad family of quality tile and stone installation products, visit www.custombuildingproducts.com.

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com. Honeywell Building Solutions is part of the Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions business group, a global leader in providing product and service solutions that improve efficiency and profitability, support regulatory compliance, and maintain safe, comfortable environments in homes, buildings and industry. For more information about Building Solutions: www.honeywell.com/buildingsolutions.

This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Honeywell