FREEPORT — When it comes to saving energy and promoting efficiency, Texas Instruments Facilities Manager Andrew McCullough said he favors an aggressive approach.

“The stuff that really gets my attention are things that I’ve never heard of,” McCullough told a group at an Efficiency Maine seminar Wednesday afternoon in Freeport’s Hilton Garden Inn. “If there is something like insulating the roof or putting solar panels or wind or the other alternative options that’s fine — but chances are we’ve already looked at it and it has a mediocre return on investment. But if I can find something that is very, very unique, that’s great.”

Lewiston City Administrator Ed Barrett favors a wait-and-see attitude.

“I like the new stuff,” Barrett said. “I like to read about it and see all these wonderful ideas. But I also work for a municipality, so I’ll let Andy try it first and if it doesn’t work, that’s his problem. I’ll wait until it does.”

The two men were part of a panel Wednesday afternoon on energy efficiency for business and commercial customers. The panel was part of a symposium and awards ceremony sponsored be Efficiency Maine focused on statewide efforts to promote energy efficiency. This is the third year Efficiency Maine has hosted the awards ceremony and the first year for the symposium.

“We wanted to broaden our educational efforts in the state of Maine,” said Efficiency Maine spokesman Paul Badeau. “This event has grown significantly over the years, and it’s usually attended by our partners, vendors and contracts. Part of our mission is education and awareness and getting people informed about the latest developments in efficiency.”

Consultant Carol Mulholland with efficiency consultants The Cadmus Group said Maine does a lot to promote efficiency but there are still huge potential savings.

“Across the country, energy efficiency is now being considered as a resource, on par with power plants of various kinds,” she said. “That of course helps the country meet many of our national goals.”

Lewiston’s Barrett said that for his city, energy efficiency comes down to saving money.

“I may not know all the terms, but I know what the bill is — and that it shows up on the property tax rate,” Barrett said.

Barrett said most of the city’s efforts have been straightforward.

“A lot of it is very common sense,” Barrett said. “Seal up the buildings, change the light bulbs, put in energy efficient lighting and go to more efficient heating and ventilating.”

Texas Instrument’s McCullough said he can afford to be more aggressive in the hunt for savings. The company’s South Portland campus, the former National Semiconductor, must compete with 23 other Texas Instrument plants and hundreds of other companies around the world.

“It’s critical that we stand out,” he said. “And with all honesty, stand out we do. Of the 23 facilities within Texas Instruments, only one is running at full capacity in this market, and that’s South Portland, Maine.”

McCullough said his strategy for promoting efficiency is fairly hard-nosed. He begins looking for potential savings by asking his staff to live without something — the boilers that heat the building, for example, or machines used to cool manufactured parts.

Next, they look for replacements. Then, they consider new technology that could make technology or process more efficient. Finally, they consider ways to optimize the process.

“That’s where I think people go wrong,” he said. “They spend huge amounts of money optimizing what they have. You get an engineer spending hundreds of hours trying to make what’s already there work really well. That’s great, but that person is going to be pretty angry when you go ahead and tear it out a year later.”

After the symposium, Efficiency Maine gave awards to companies, contractors and suppliers that did an especially good job promoting efficiency last year. Awards were given to eight companies:

* CED Gilman Electrical Supply was named Supplier of the Year.

* Mechanical Services Inc. of Portland was named Contractor of the Year.

* Ameresco of Portland was recognized for having the largest lights project of the year.

* Woodard & Curran of Bangor and Portland were recognized for having the largest mechanical project of the year.

* EMC of South Portland was named Qualified Partners of the Year.

* Wal-Mart was named Retailer of the Year.

* East Brown Cow Management of Portland was named Customer of the Year.

* The Breathable Home of Manchester was named Participating Energy Adviser of the Year.

Efficiency Maine employee Tim Vrabel was given the Phil Hastings Award, which is in honor of Efficiency Maine’s founder.

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