Dave Alden

Dave Alden, Property Manager for Major Administrative Buildings in Northern California for Wells Fargo Bank will discuss his company's energy use reduction program, what's been accomplished, where the program is headed and how it's been done.

Dave Alden applied the fashion axiom to the roof of three low-rise office buildings he manages in Walnut Creek for financial services giant Wells Fargo & Co.

The white acrylic coat reflects heat and light instead of absorbing it. That translates into energy savings, which means money. ``The reflective coating does a super job,'' said Alden, regional manager for Northern California administrative buildings for Wells Fargo & Co.

``It reduces the heat load tremendously,'' he said, estimating the coating cut the daytime roof temperature an average 42 degrees.
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``Before, we had to operate three pieces of equipment first thing in the a.m.,'' Alden said. Now it's ``noonish,'' before a second air conditioner is turned on, he said.
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Alden, the Wells Fargo manager, says he expects the $1.70 per square foot Wells paid installing the cool roofs will pay for itself in three to four years. Alden said energy consumption for the three buildings this July was 20 percent lower than the previous year. The company also installed energy saving T-8 lighting.

Alden said the company's goal is cost cutting. On some properties, Wells is replacing old air conditioning units with more efficient ones. ``Overall we have a 16 percent, 20 percent reduction in (electricity) consumption in Northern California,'' Alden said.