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Posts tagged ‘project skyline’

Sep 5

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Salt Lake City Recognizes Owners of Energy Efficient Buildings as new City Ordinance Begins Roll-out

PRESS RELEASE – September 5, 2019.

Today, Salt Lake City honored buildings with high energy performance at the annual Elevate Buildings Awards. The Department of Sustainability invited all buildings who participated in the City’s energy efficiency benchmarking program and received an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or above to the reception this afternoon attended by Mayor Biskupski.

A score of 75 indicates exceptional energy performance.

In addition, the City opened up nominations for buildings to have a particular energy project recognized. Three awards were given this afternoon:

  • Unico Properties received the Energy Management Award in recognition for their work upgrading the HVAC and damper systems in 250 Tower following a Rocky Mountain Power wattsmart Business audit.
  • City Creek Reserve received the Recommissioning Award for their work in optimizing the energy performance of the HVAC system at the Key Bank Tower.
  • The Energy Project of the Year was given to Intermountain Healthcare for a variety of upgrades, including new air handling units and LED lighting retrofit, at Primary Children’s Hospital.
Read more

Oct 11

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Salt Lake City Recognizes Business Leadership in Enhancing Energy Efficiency, Reducing Pollution

Elevate Buildings Logo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2018

Salt Lake City’s Department of Sustainability is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Elevate Buildings Awards, highlighting organizations that have taken action to enhance the energy performance of their buildings. Improved efficiency reduces local air pollution, as well as overall greenhouse gas emissions, making it an important component of the capital city’s work to achieve its Climate Positive goals.

“Area sources, including buildings, are having a significant and growing impact on our airshed,” said Mayor Jackie Biskupski. “But they also have a critical role to play in being part of the solution. The organizations we are highlighting this year through the Elevate Buildings Awards are all examples of community leadership in ‘walking the walk’ to improve air quality year round.”

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 30 percent of the average commercial building’s energy consumption is wasted through inefficient building operation. That makes energy efficiency the “low-hanging fruit” when it comes to improving air quality and reducing Salt Lake City’s community carbon footprint—a goal made all the more important by the recent release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showing the urgency of reducing emissions from all sources. Read more

Jun 4

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The Salt Lake City School District Saves Energy and Conserves Resources

By Ardyn Ford, SLCgreen intern

Welcome to SLCgreen Connections, an occasional series highlighting SLCgreen’s fantastic local partners—the people and organizations with whom we work closely to make Salt Lake City a greener, more vibrant, and sustainable city!

Greg Libecci of the Salt Lake City School District chronicles some of the achievements he’s helped realize after nine years as the Energy and Resource Manager for dozens of schools. His work led to the school district receiving a 2015 Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Award from Salt Lake City. Thanks for all you do Greg!

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Greg Libecci, right, stands near solar panels being installed at Hillside Middle School in Salt Lake City.

School’s out this week, but that doesn’t mean Greg Libecci takes the summer off.

His role as Energy and Resource Manager means he works year-round to identify and implement energy efficiency projects to save the Salt Lake City School District energy and money.

What led him to this role?

After several years of working in corporate sales for a telecom company, Greg began to notice energy waste everywhere. Things that were not being used were often left on, racking up unnecessary expenses and negatively impacting the environment.

He was certainly on to something with these observations, since the excessive consumption of energy resources worldwide is recognized as an important contributor to climate change.

Greg was drawn into the sustainability field because he saw how simple it could be to prevent unnecessary energy use. He was excited by the solvable nature of the problem.

When the Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD) created the Energy and Resource Manager position nine years ago in an effort to save the District money on utility costs, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Greg to pursue his newfound passion for energy conservation.

Not only would he have the opportunity to directly implement important sustainability initiatives at a large organization, but he would also have the chance to work with students, something that remains an extremely rewarding part of his job.

Since Greg took the position, the school district has seen huge reductions in energy and natural gas use. In comparison with their baseline year of 2009, 2017 saw an 11% decrease in electricity use and a 23% decrease in natural gas usage.

This translates to a 4,400 ton reduction of CO2 emissions for 2017! Read more

Aug 18

August 31 Panel Discussion: Learn how your business can save energy and money

A PANEL DISCUSSION

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Calling all local businesses!

The Downtown Merchants Association and SLCgreen invite you to
a panel discussion with local businesses and property owners as
they discuss how to become more energy efficient and promote
green practices.

Heavy appetizers and drinks will be served courtesy of Cucina Toscana.

When: AUGUST 31, 2017 | 5PM – 6:30

Where: Cucina Toscana: 282 S 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Panelists: Read more

Mar 1

Nerdy Energy Science Saves SLC Money and Pollution

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Salt Lake City’s Public Safety Building is the first Net Zero facility of its kind in the country. Even so, energy benchmarking and tune-ups helped us realize even more dollar and emissions savings.

Did you know that our buildings, homes, and small businesses contribute over a third of the pollution that obscures the valley during the winter?

Also known as “area sources,” this sector is the second-largest source of emissions and is forecasted to become the largest one in the coming years (as cars continually get cleaner due to federal regulations).

This is why everything we can do to reduce emissions from our homes and buildings can make a difference to our environment and public health.  It’s also why the City is focused on educating residents and businesses about the crucial role of efficiency to our airshed and to our carbon footprint. To this end, we provide guides for home improvements, including details on thermostat controls, home insulation and efficient appliances to help move residential buildings toward a cleaner energy future.

Our skyline’s largest buildings also have a role to play. While there is no “silver bullet” for wiping away all of Salt Lake City’s air pollution problems, the city’s commercial buildings can help simply by measuring their energy usage and making efficiency improvements where feasible. Read more

Jul 15

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Mayor Biskupski Recognizes Business Leadership Enhancing the Salt Lake City Economy and Cutting Pollution

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“Head of the class.” “Leaders.” “Innovators.”  They’re called many things.  At Salt Lake City, we call the building owners that go above-and-beyond to cut emissions our “Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Winners”, and it is our pleasure to introduce you to them.

Launched in May 2014, the multi-year Mayor’s Skyline Challenge encourages building owners across Salt Lake City to proactively improve the energy performance of their buildings, reducing emissions and saving money.  On July 15, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski joined business and community leaders to honor the four winners of the second annual Mayor’s Skyline Challenge Awards for their leadership in Project Skyline over the past year. Read more

Feb 3

Salt Lake City Partners with Utilities to Improve Building Energy Efficiency

Last Friday, Salt Lake City was recognized by The White House and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for its efforts to unlock access to energy data for building owners and improve energy efficiency.

Since 2013, Salt Lake City has partnered with both Rocky Mountain Power and Questar to provide whole-building energy data access to building owners through the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager Tool. The effort, which is on track for completion in 2017, will ensure effortless energy data management for building owners, providing a complete picture as to building energy use and enabling them to employ more responsive strategies.

“Salt Lake City, Rocky Mountain Power and Questar are working together to help building owners understand how their building is operating and to identify opportunities to improve energy management,” says Vicki Bennett, sustainability director for Salt Lake City. “By automating and streamlining the process, more Salt Lake City building owners will be able to improve energy efficiency – ultimately saving energy, money and emissions.”

Salt Lake City is committed to improving air quality, and buildings play an important role in emissions. The most recent data from the Utah Division of Air Quality show that 39% of existing air pollution comes from area sources (i.e. homes and businesses). This percentage is expected to increase significantly over the next 20 years as vehicles become more efficient, making building energy efficiency efforts more and more important.

Last week, Mayor Jackie Biskupski extended an invitation to leading industry experts to share their ideas and best practices for energy efficiency in buildings, as part of the Elevate Buildings process.

“There is nothing more important than the air we breathe, and working to clear our skies is a top priority of my administration,” says Mayor Biskupksi. “By collaborating with industry experts we will help improve air quality through increased energy efficiency our city’s largest buildings.”

Learn more about Salt Lake City’s efforts to cut energy waste in buildings at SLCgov.com/ProjectSkyline.

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Feb 3

Mayor Becker Issues Executive Order to Increase Energy Efficiency at City Facilities

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Today Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker issued an Executive Order designed to maximize superior energy management at all Salt Lake City facilities.

“We must lead by example,” said Mayor Becker. “By taking steps to actively monitor our energy use and improve the efficiency of city facilities, we will cut energy waste, improve air quality, protect our natural resources and ultimately save taxpayer dollars.”

The order, which establishes Salt Lake City among leading cities nationwide, creates a multi-department Energy Management Steering Committee and requires City facilities to develop annual Energy Management Plans and track results.

“Through this Executive Order, Mayor Becker again demonstrates his commitment to air quality and smart energy use,” said Sarah Wright, Executive Director of Utah Clean Energy. “Improving the efficiency of Salt Lake City municipal facilities is a fantastic way to showcase how local governments can save taxpayer dollars while simultaneously reducing pollution.”

Energy Management Plans will report on facilities’ progress utilizing best practices in energy management, including energy benchmarking, identification of energy-saving opportunities, requiring building energy efficiency training for facilities managers and operators, empowering employees to play an active role in cutting energy waste and improved transparency of facility energy performance.

The new Executive Order is a cornerstone of Project Skyline, an initiative designed to dramatically cut energy waste in Salt Lake City’s commercial buildings by accelerating investment in energy efficiency and raising public awareness of building performance. In 2014, Project Skyline kicked off with the Mayor’s Skyline Challenge, enlisting 20 businesses in a proactive effort to reduce building energy use. Learn more at SLCgov.com/ProjectSkyline.

A previous Executive Order issued by Mayor Becker in 2013 required all new City facilities achieve net-zero energy status (i.e. producing as much energy as they consume).

Jan 8

Project Skyline: BOMA Utah Launches Kilowatt Crackdown

SLCgreen applauds Project Skyline partner BOMA Utah on bringing building efficiency awareness to their members statewide.

BOMA Utah, which represents over 50 million square feet of commercial buildings in the state, wants to do its part to support ambitious carbon reduction goals from both the State of Utah and Salt Lake City. BOMA Utah members with portfolios in Salt Lake City are also encouraged to join the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Skyline Challenge.

Read on to learn more about the Kilowatt Crackdown!

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BOMA Utah launches 2015 “Kilowatt Crackdown”

The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Utah is launching its 2015 Kilowatt Crackdown competition as part of Gov. Gary R. Herbert’s Utah Energy Efficiency & Conservation Plan, as well as Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s Project Skyline.

BOMA Utah, which represents over 50 million square feet of commercial buildings in Utah, wants to do its part to support ambitious carbon reduction goals from both the State of Utah and Salt Lake City.

“Utah’s large commercial buildings consume considerable amounts of energy and many could use energy-efficiency upgrades”, said BOMA Utah President Lorrie Ostlind, Senior Portfolio Manager at Commerce Real Estate Solutions. “We’ve assembled a great partnership to create valuable opportunity for Utah’s building owners to save energy, save money and improve their buildings.”

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, buildings in the United States account for more than 40 percent of total energy consumption and about 72 percent of electricity consumption.  If current trends continue, it is estimated that buildings will be the largest global energy consumers by 2025.

“The Kilowatt Crackdown” competition supports voluntary benchmarking of energy use that is evaluated based on real data and allows us to maintain a leadership position in energy reduction”, said BOMA Utah Vice President Justin Farnsworth, Vice President of Asset Services at Newmark Grubb ACRES.

Participating buildings will benchmark energy performance through ENERGY STAR’s Portfolio Manager Tool and seek to improve their performance over time.

“Prospective tenants demand efficient, environmental-friendly buildings and are willing to pay for it”, said Ostlind.  “Benchmarking for improved performance keeps us competitive in the marketplace, and will help us deliver on our economic development goals to foster the next wave of innovation in sustainable buildings”.

About the Kilowatt Crackdown Competition

Kilowatt Crackdown is the energy-saving competition where “every building wins” and offers participants the following:

  • A promotional package from our valued partners offering various discounts on energy related products and services, including engineering certification for properties that qualify for the ENERGY STAR label – a score of 75 or more.
  • Advertising and recognition of your participation in the contest.
  • Assistance with identifying ECMs through ENERGY STAR’s Portfolio Manager.
  • Technical support and data review of your ENERGY STAR benchmarking profile.
  • Satisfaction from being a leader in the Utah market.

Participants wishing to enter their buildings into the TOBY Awards program can utilize their Energy Star ratings and reports for the International requirements.

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Jan 6

Community Incentives for Energy Efficiency

Our friends at the USGBC Utah are hosting a Community Incentives for Energy Efficiency event on Thursday, January 15, 2015 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. And you’re invited!

Register now.

The one and a half hour presentation will include presentations on energy efficiency incentives, solar programs, cost saving activities home owners and renters can implement, and updates on Utah laws. The presentation will also include a highlight of Salt Lake City’s Project Skyline.

Community Incentives for Energy Efficiency is an education program from the LIVE Team of the US Green Building Council – Utah Chapter.

Community Incentives for Energy Efficiency
Thursday, January 15, 2015
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Wasatch Retreat and Conference Center
Register.

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