Tag Archives: energy efficiency

U.S. Green Building Council Announces Utah is 10th State in the Nation for LEED Green Building

Today, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released its national ranking of the top states in the country for LEED green building and Utah is the 10^th state in the nation for 2015. The rankings come at an important time for states looking to reduce their energy use. LEED-certified spaces use less energy and water resources, save money for families, businesses and taxpayers, reduce carbon emissions and create a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.

“Utah is a nationwide leader in green building and LEED certification. LEED creates jobs and increases opportunities for Utah’s workers and businesses while contributing billions of dollars to the state’s economy,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair of USGBC. “LEED has become an essential standard for the transformation of building design and construction. LEED certified buildings drive economic growth, creates jobs and makes communities healthier.”

The annual ranking is developed by analyzing each state in terms of square feet of LEED certified space per state resident. Now in its sixth year, the list highlights states throughout the country that made significant strides in sustainable building design, construction and transformation throughout 2015. Utah certified 31 projects representing 4,494,301 square feet of real estate, or 1.63 square feet per resident, in 2015.

“We are thrilled to have Utah businesses and institutions recognized in this way for the first time,” said Daniel Pacheco, executive director, USGBC-Utah Chapter. “This achievement affirms not only USGBC Utah’s mantra that where you live, learn, work and worship matters, but also that partners are taking sustainable concepts to heart as we develop healthy buildings for everyone in Utah.”

In addition, data from USGBC’s 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study show LEED construction is expected to support 23,000 total jobs in Utah and have a total impact on GDP of $1.97 billion from 2015-2018.

A few notable projects that certified in Utah in 2015 include:

Salt Lake City Public Safety Building; LEED Platinum
S. District Courthouse, Salt Lake City; LEED Gold
University of Utah Football Center; LEED Silver
Ballet West; LEED Gold

The full ranking of the top 10 states for 2015 includes:

Rank	State	Projects certified in 2015	Square feet LEED certified in 2015	Per-capita square footage
1	Illinois	161	43,979,595	3.43
2	Maryland	127	17,659,881	3.06
3	Massachusetts	112	19,850,624	3.03
4	Washington	101	17,450,321	2.60
5	Colorado	95	12,218,992	2.43
6	Nevada	30	6,534,960	2.42
7	California	618	87,358,563	2.34
8	Texas	237	52,445,321	2.09
9	Virginia	121	13,005,968	1.63
10	Utah	31	4,494,301	1.63
*	Washington, D.C.	84	11,612,237	19.30

*Washington, D.C., is not ranked as it is a federal district, not a state.

Collectively, 1,633 commercial and institutional projects became LEED certified within the Top 10 States in 2015, representing 274.9 million square feet of real estate. Worldwide, 4,837 projects were certified in 2015, representing 818.9 million square feet. Nearly 75,000 projects representing 14.4 billion square feet of space have been LEED-certified to date.

USGBC calculates the list using per-capita figures as a measure of the human element of green building. This also allows for fair comparisons among states with significant differences in population and number of buildings.

Winterize Your Home- Energy Saving Tips

Basic tips for saving money and increasing energy efficiency this winter!

Insulate your windows. Single pane windows are especially inefficient, but double pane windows can also benefit from insulation. Plastic film kits range from $10-$30, are easy to install, and effective. According to Lowe’s, window film can help retain up to 55% of your home’s heat in winter! If you are feeling ambitious, consider installing storm doors and windows!
Dodge the drafts. Do you have cold air sneaking in at the base of your door? Use a rolled bath towel placed at the base of the door to block the air. Or use an old sock or sew together some old fabric scraps and fill with sand or rice. Here are some draft stopper ideas!
Photo Credit: Frugal Homemaking

Change your furnace filter. Dirty filters restrict air flow and increase energy demand. Changing your filter once a month is recommended during the heating season, or use a permanent filter to reduce waste.
Set your water heater to 120 degrees (or lower). Water heaters are often set to 140 degrees which is likely higher than necessary. Lower the temperature to reduce your water heating costs.
Turn down your thermostat. This is one of the surest ways to save money. For every degree you lower the thermostat during heating season, you’ll save between 1 and 3 percent of your heating bill. Try 68 degrees, or lower when asleep or away from home. And dress warmer for winter, wear a sweater!

Enjoy the winter season!

Climate Week: Five Actions You Can Take Today!

Climate action starts with you! Here are five simple actions you can take today to begin reducing your climate impact.

1. Use Cold Water Detergent and Cold Water Setting for Clothes Washer

	Pounds of CO2 Reduced Annually: 1,270
	Annual Savings: $92

Heating water consumes a lot of energy – 90% of the total needed to wash your clothes – always use a cold-water setting and detergent.

2. Replace Your Furnace Filter and Manage Your Thermostat

	Pounds of CO2 Reduced Annually: 1,800
	Annual Savings: $124

Every degree F saves 3% on cooling / heating – set to 60 at night or unoccupied during winter and 78 in summer. Dirty furnace filters waste energy and should be changed every three months.

3. Properly Inflate Your Tires and Ride with Hive

	Pounds of CO2 Reduced Annually: 400 (tires only)
	Annual Savings: $95 (tires only)

Regularly check and inflate your tires to improve MPGs by 3% – more tips to save fuel at FuelEconomy.gov.
SLC residents, visit RideWithHive.com for details on the City’s discounted transit pass. Just $42 / month, a 50% discount, gets you unlimited rides on the bus, TRAX and S-Line.

4. Replace at Least Five Lights with LEDs

	Pounds of CO2 Reduced Annually: 500 (per five lights)
	Annual Savings: $40 (per five lights)

90% of the energy used lighting an incandescent bulb goes towards generating heat, not light. LED lighting is the cheapest lifecycle cost option – purchasing plus operating costs – and Rocky Mountain Power offers great incentives for homes and businesses.

5. Use Reusable Water Bottles and Mugs – Plus, Downsize Your Garbage Can

	Pounds of CO2 Reduced Annually: 580 (Reusable Drink Containers Only)
	Annual Savings: $150 (Reusable Drink Containers Only)

Manufacturing bottles, cans and other drink containers takes energy and creates emissions. Reduce your footprint and save cash by using reusables. SLC residents should Google SLCgreen for many more waste tips and additional ways to save, like downsizing your garbage can. Moving from a 90-gallon bin to a 40-gallon bin will save you $87 / year on your trash bill. There is also a 60-gallon option that will save you money.

Climate Week: SLC in Action, Energy Efficient Technology

As part of Climate Week, the inaugural class of Salt Lake Climate Leaders have been working within their City departments to promote actions that will have a positive impact on the City’s carbon footprint.

Salt Lake City’s Information Management Systems (IMS) Department kicked things off on Monday with a special showcase featuring energy efficient technology that promotes a greener environment. IMS regularly hosts technology fairs to educate City employees the latest technologies available to streamline operations.

This is the first showcase to feature products that will help City departments save energy, reduce their carbon footprint and increase energy consciousness.

Some of the technologies featured include:

Solar charging options and rechargeable battery packs
Low voltage/small footprint computing devices
Low power & longer life projectors
The latest in teleworking and collaboration technology
Portable technologies

Learn more about Climate Week and how you can get involved at SLCgreen.com.

City Saves Energy with Electronic Building Plans

Salt Lake City’s Building Services Division has moved to completely electronic building plans in favor of energy savings. Based on 2,500 building plans reviewed per year, Salt Lake City and its customers will save approximately 360,000 miles driven, 512,000 pounds of paper and prevent 2,300 pounds of hydrocarbons from being released into the atmosphere annually. Additionally, with all plans now available online for viewing by staff, there have been substantial savings in time and resources tracking down archived files, which were previously located in an offsite storage facility.

Although electronic plan review submissions were only made mandatory a few months ago, the City has been using the electronic plan program for four full years. It’s estimated that on a voluntary basis, about 35% of reviews have been paperless over the past four years. This has saved 504,000 miles driven, 716,000 pounds of paper and prevented 3,220 pounds of hydrocarbons from being released into the atmosphere. Way to go, Building Services!

Credit: Orion Goff, CBO, Building Official, Director, Building Services and Civil Enforcement, Salt Lake City Corporation

Buildings are Key to Salt Lake City’s Clean Air Future

Buildings represent a large and growing part of our local air quality problem. A new infographic, released at the Mayor’s Project Skyline Awards Ceremony, presents statistics on building energy efficiency and economic benefits. For example, buildings contribute nearly 40% of pollutants on a typical winter day. By making buildings more energy efficient, we can conserve enough resources to power up to 37,000 homes every year. If Salt Lake City were to adopt energy savings best practices, building owners across the city could save up to $48 million dollars annually.

As many know, Salt Lake City has significantly poor air quality, especially during the winter months; however, fewer know how dramatically we can improve our air quality by improving the energy efficiency of our buildings. By making large buildings in Salt Lake City more energy efficient, we could remove one million pounds of pollutants, which equates to taking 32,000 vehicles off the road for one year. Additionally, we would prevent 650 million pounds of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere each year! View the complete infographic for additional facts.

Join us and become a part of Project Skyline to save money, improve property values, and clean our air.

Salt Lake City Announces Project Skyline Challenge Award Winners

Today, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Kathleen Hogan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency for the U.S. Department of Energy, and Matthew Dalbey, Director of the Office of Sustainable Communities for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joined City leaders and building owners in honoring the winners of the Project Skyline Mayor’s Challenge 2015 Awards. Project Skyline, a multi-year challenge to reduce building energy use in buildings across the city, was launched in May 2014. The goal is to challenge building owners across Salt Lake City to proactively meet – and exceed – the air quality and energy-saving targets of the Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015 by 15 percent by 2020. Throughout its first year, Project Skyline has been overwhelmingly successful, hosting educational and networking workshops, providing resources for evaluating the building’s energy use, and helping establish energy-saving goals for each business involved.

At the 2015 Project Skyline Awards Luncheon, five winners were recognized for their leadership in Challenge efforts over the past year.

This year, the Energy Innovator Award goes to Basic Research. Basic Research has improved the efficiency of their 230,000-square-foot facility by improving the lighting, HVAC systems, and installing the largest privately owned solar photovoltaic project in the state of Utah. By making these improvements, Basic Research has improved their ENERGY STAR score from 10 to 99.

The Sustained Excellence Award goes to Fidelity Investments. Across the country, Fidelity Investments is working to obtain LEED certification in 65 percent of their buildings and their location on 49 N 400 W is no exception. The building falls under LEED Silver certification, and recently, they added LED lighting and lighting controls and photovoltaic panels to improve the building’s ENERGYSTAR score to 96.

The McGillis School, a private co-ed school located on the Northeast bench of the Salt Lake Valley, has earned the Most-Improved EnergyStar Score Award. In 2014, the school reported an ENERYSTAR score of 97, which marks a 17 point improvement from 2013.

The Energy Efficiency Leadership Award goes to Newmark Grubb ACRES. Throughout the past year, Newmark Grubb ACRES has helped tremendously attending and presenting at multiple workshops. Company leadership also participates on BOMA Utah’s Energy and Sustainability committee and helped launch the BOMA Utah Kilowatt Crackdown. Additionally, the company is working on energy efficiency in several of its properties and are continuing to improve their ENERGYSTAR scores.

Lastly, the Benchmarking Champion Award goes to the Salt Lake City School District. Since 2009, the Salt Lake City School District has begun benchmarking to monitor energy consumption in over 40 buildings. Not only are 72 percent of the district’s schools benchmarked, but they are also certified ENERGY STAR buildings. They have seen an an 18 percent improvement in ENERGY STAR scores in all of their buildings.

Congratulations to these businesses. For more information on Project Skyline and the Mayor’s Challenge, visit our website.

How Updated Energy Codes Will Benefit Utah

On Sunday, the Desert News printed an Op-Ed by David Brems with GSBS Architects and Kevin Emerson with Utah Clean Energy outlining how Utah needs new new energy codes that make buildings and homes more efficient. Here is an excerpt, you can read the entire piece online.

Air pollution is a top concern for Utah citizens. So is financial stability. Improving our air quality while saving money for Utahns is a win-win opportunity. This summer, decision-makers will be voting whether or not to adopt up-to-date building energy codes that will help new homes and buildings constructed in Utah cut energy waste, lower air pollution and reduce Utahns’ energy bills.

The average Utah home wastes far too much energy because it was not designed and constructed with energy efficiency as a priority. This is where the energy conservation codes come in. While lacking the flashy glamour of solar panels or electric vehicles, the “2015 International Energy Conservation Code” can dramatically reduce energy waste and related air pollution by incorporating common sense, readily available, yet often invisible efficiency solutions to new homes and buildings.

Industry leaders like GSBS Architects and public interest organizations like Utah Clean Energy see tremendous value in adopting the new energy code. But despite the benefits it brings to Utah families, businesses and consumers, getting the new code adopted has become a political undertaking. It shouldn’t be. Just consider the benefits from updating the energy codes.

Read more.

Utah Clean Energy has also released the following infographic — Three Ways Updated Energy Codes Benefit Utah. Take a look!

SLC Debuts on National City Scorecard for Energy Efficiency

Mayors and local lawmakers in America’s largest cities continue to take innovative steps to lower energy costs for consumers and businesses, increase their resilience, and reduce pollution through increased energy efficiency, according to the 2^nd edition of the City Energy Efficiency Scorecard, released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Salt Lake City makes its debut on the list this year, coming in #19 on the city scorecard. Check out the summary below for all the details! You can also explore the entire ACEE City Scorecard.

SLCgreen director touts city’s efforts toward sustainability, meets with President Obama during Utah visit (FOX13 Story)

SLCgreen Director Vicki Bennett was recently profiled by FOX 13 News during President’s Obama’s visit to Utah. Click on the screenshot above to view the video. Here is the transcript:

SALT LAKE CITY — Vicki Bennett has been with Salt Lake City for 14 years, and she said this city in particular has been on the forefront of sustainability.

The word sustainability can mean different things to different people, but for Bennett and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s administration, it comes down a pretty basic concept.

She said: “How do we ensure we keep Salt Lake City the best we can, for now and for our children? We want people to want to continue to want to live here, we want a healthy environment.”

During Becker’s nearly two terms, Bennett has helped lead the mayor’s sustainability team by developing solar energy projects, reducing carbon emissions and encouraging local business owners to meet air quality and energy targets by evaluating their building’s energy use, setting energy-saving goals, and conducting energy-saving improvement projects.

“And what’s so exciting is that Salt Lake’s sustainability program, if you talk to our peers, is considered one of the top 10 in the nation, for a small city,” Bennett said.

Those efforts have also been noticed by leaders in Washington D.C.

Mayor Becker and President Barack Obama share a similar vision regarding sustainability, and it has helped them forge a strong, working relationship. Bennett said that in turn helps the effort back in Salt Lake City.

“He’s been able to get us a voice in the White House,” she said. “Because of that, we’ve been able to get funding for grants that a lot of cities aren’t even invited to apply for.”

Bennett knows there will soon be a new mayor but said she believes Salt Lake City’s advances in walkable housing, transportation, solar power and recycling are here to stay.

“We always have to be improving our environment, we always have to be ensuring we have healthy air to breathe, that we have water quality and water quantity for our residents,” she said.

Bennett was able to briefly meet President Obama Thursday night during his visit to Utah, and she said the honor gave everyone on their staff a renewed sense of determination to move forward with sustainability efforts.

Full story, including video, available at FOX13Now.com.