The conference was opened by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, C. Donald Babers, Regional Administrator for Region VI, U.S. HUD and Texas Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman.

Smitherman provided some interesting Texas/ERCOT stats:

+ 1.7 million smart meters are installed as of July 31
+ 6 million will be installed by 2013
+ 9300 megawatts from wind in ERCOT footprint (900 MW more in Texas but out of ERCOT footprint)
+ 18,500 megawatts from wind in ERCOT planned by 2013 (that would be 20-25% of load)
+ There is a proposed rule for NON-WIND renewable target of 500 MW (most likely, solar)

From Dub Taylor of the State Energy Conservation Office, he provided this data of the fuel mix in Electricity in Texas for 2009:
+ Natural Gas 51%
+ Coal 34%
+ Nuclear 10%
+ Renewables (basically wind) 4%

One of the highlights of the conference, of which there were many, was the presentation by the new City of Houston Sustainablity Director, Laura Spanjian (we touched on Spanjian earlier this month on this blog here), summarizing the Houston’s achievements in sustainable growth. In March of this year the City of Houston was recognized for being ranked sixth on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 list of cities with the most energy efficient buildings.

Ms. Spanjian woke the crowd up after lunch with an inspired delivery of City of Houston accomplishments.

Solar and Wind initiatives include: A 100KW solar system at George R. Brown Convention Center funded jointly by the Houston Endowment ($850k), BP ($100k) and CenterPoint ($50k) and the purchase of 2 billion kwh (50 MW of power) from Texas Wind Farms over the next 5 years. The EPA ranks the City of Houston as the #1 in terms of renewable energy purchased by a municipality.

Other energy efficiency initiatives include the LED traffic lights at 2,000 intersections which have a cost savings of $3.6M per year, the LED Streetlight Pilot Project which are up to 50% more energy efficient and 755 hybrid vehicles (the 3rd largest municipal fleet in the country). It should also be noted METRO is purchasing is purchasing 100 hybrid buses a year and will have 449 in total by 2011.

Houston is “LEED”ing the way for all new construction, as mandated in 2004, and the Looscan Library was the City’s first LEED Certified building with a LEED Gold on Central Permitting Center and Fire Station 90 not far behind. Add to all of this the Residential Program for kWh reductions, the Weatherization Program, improving air quality using MAAM and DIAL technologies and Houston is well on its way to leading the nation in energy strategies.

We applaud the new Mayor Parker and her selection of Laura Spanjian as Sustainability Director.

It was a great presentation!

By the way, the event was held at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on UT’s campus. The facility is LEED Gold.

David Roth of gbNYC (Green Building in NYC) nails it with “What happened at 375 Hudson is a smashing success, but it’s also really nothing more than a pretty down-the-middle retrofit done well. It’s tough to imagine a better advertisement for green commercial retrofits than that.”

Roth continues, “This is common-sense stuff, not a revolutionary leap forward. It’s low-flow fixtures and improving fixtures, not slapping on some solar panels and hoisting a wind turbine. It is, in short, a basic green retrofit — one that happens to grade very highly in terms of LEED points and the sort of building performance metrics Energy Star measures, but not one that would be beyond the reach of most Manhattan office buildings. Which, in a way, is what makes it most extraordinary.”

Now you see why I said I love this story.

From the official press release, here are the main items which earned the LEED GOLD:

+ reduced electricity consumption by nearly 110,000 kWh per year by making changes to the HVAC and mechanical systems and installing variable frequency drives on the cooling tower fans;
+ reduced steam consumption by improving heat exchangers and making other HVAC improvements that reduced heating demand;
+ reduced annual water consumption by 1 million gallons by replacing original restroom fixtures with low flow aerators and new water closets;
+ adopted an expanded recycling program that encompassed not only office paper and waste, but batteries, electronic waste and construction debris;
+ implemented a building-wide Green Cleaning policy focusing on improving air quality and ensuring the purchase of sustainable cleaning and janitorial paper supplies.

That’s as basic as it gets…Down the middle of the fairway stuff…things that every building should do, whether they want a LEED plaque or not.

Golf clap for Tishman Speyer and main tenants Saatchi & Saatchi, Penguin Group, and Turner Construction.

Video from Bob Harper from Biggest Loser introduces Energy Fitness for Buildings

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring the first national energy efficiency contest of its kind, featuring 14 commercial buildings from across the country. While trimming kilowatt hours off is their bottom line, they’ll also save money and help fight climate change. The building that sheds the most energy waste on a percentage basis will be declared the winner at EPA’s final weigh-in on Oct. 26, 2010.

“It’s time for buildings to tighten their belts and we’re happy to help them go on an energy diet,” said Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for air and radiation. “Cutting energy use will reduce their monthly expenses and their carbon footprint, showing that environmental protection and economic growth can go hand in hand.”

Nearly 200 applications were received for EPA’s National Building Competition and the 14 finalists will be judged on their energy performance from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2010. The energy use of each building is being monitored with EPA’s Energy Star online energy measurement and tracking tool, Portfolio Manager. Television personality Bob Harper will also provide energy fitness tips for the contestants through a series of videos that will be available on the Web site.

EPA’s National Building Competition contestants are:
· 522 Fifth Avenue Building, New York, N.Y.
· 1525 Wilson Boulevard Building, Arlington, Va.
· Crystal River Elementary School, Carbondale, Colo.
· Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Downtown, San Diego, Calif.
· JCPenney Store 1778, Orange, Calif.
· Maplewood Mall, St. Paul, Minn.
· Memorial Arts Building at the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Ga.
· Morrison Residence Hall at UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.
· Sears, Glen Burnie, Md.
· Sheraton Austin Hotel, Austin, Texas
· Solon Family Health Center at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
· Tucker Residence Hall at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C.
· Van Holten Primary School, Bridgewater, N.J.
· Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Va.

The competition Web site will provide profiles of each contestant and chronicle their progress as well as feature advice for contestants from EPA and leading building efficiency specialists. Each building will also participate in mid-point and final contest weigh-ins and the results will be posted online at the competition Web site.

Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for 17 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. On average, 30 percent of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with the EPA’s Energy Star program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere each year.

I found this very interesting in the announcement:

In addition to the $452 million Recovery Act investment, the 25 projects announced today will leverage an estimated $2.8 billion from other sources over the next 3 years to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the country. Overall, the program funding was eight times oversubscribed, with more than $3.5 billion in applications received for the just over $450 million in Recovery Act funds available, indicating significant demand for investment in energy-saving and job-creating projects like these nationwide.

The full list of 25 cities that qualified are available here.

On a similar note, the DOE announced today that they were providing $28 million in funding to states to help states lower the cost and increase the availability of energy efficiency retrofits. Those funds will go to develop energy-saving policy goals in states that do not currently have strong energy efficiency programs in place, and for ten awards between $2 million to $5 million each for initiatives that significantly increase the number of commercial and residential building retrofits in a state.

All of this is in addition to the Commercial Building Partnership initiative that I mentioned earlier today in an earlier blog post.

They are asking building owners, developers, tenants, and operators to submit project proposals for new and existing energy-efficient buildings. Online applications are due by 3:00 p.m. Eastern on May 10, 2010.

CBP targets actual, measured energy savings of over 50% for new construction and 30% for existing buildings when compared to currently established baselines. The strategies and technologies used to achieve these savings will be documented and shared to help improve the efficiency of all U.S. commercial buildings.

I expect more of these to come.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, commonly known as “ASHRAE” has classified Energy Auditing into three distinct groups. ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Audit is the simplest and least time consuming while ASHRAE Level 3 Energy Audit requires a more stringent and time consuming process. Each Energy Audit Level should be consider based on the owner’s expectations, building systems and cost.

ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Audit (Walk-through Analysis) Scope includes:
+ A one-day walk through of the building systems to get a “rough estimate” of how efficient the building operates.
+ Analysis of energy bills. How is electricity, gas and water charged?
+ Detect “low-hanging fruit”, simple, low-cost/no-cost fixes.
+ Suggest other systems that require further analysis. (Further analysis is not included)

This is the LEED O&M EA prerequisite 1: Energy Efficiency Best Management Practices­Planning, Documentation, and Opportunity Assessment.

ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit (Energy Survey and Analysis) Scope includes:

+ An ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Audit Scope plus
+ More detailed energy calculations and financial analysis of proposed energy conservation opportunities. (Spreadsheet calculations for each energy conservation opportunity)
+ Recommendations consider the owner’s operations and maintenance, constraints, and economic criteria.
+ Breakout Each Energy Conservation Opportunity as separate studies. Analyze the amount saved, cost and pay back period for each opportunity.

This earns 2 points under LEED EB EA credit 2.1: Existing Building Commissioning­Investigation and Analysis Option B.

ASHRAE Level 3 Energy Audit (Detailed Analysis of Capital Intensive Modification) Scope includes:
+ An ASHRAE Level 2 Energy Audit Scope plus
+ A further expansion of the previous levels of energy calculations (Energy Model) or extensive data collection (Pre-retrofit Measurement & Verification)
+ The report includes detailed cost and savings information with a high-level of confidence, sufficient for major capital investment decisions as well as a time-line for implementation of each recommendation.

From a recent blog from Jetson Green (I told you I found all sorts of great things on his site!), Energy Performance Scores (EPS) is a rating of the total energy consumption of a home with an associated carbon emission score. To get the score, a trained professional conducts an EPS audit by collecting utility bill information; measuring and sketching the home; recording window type and shading, insulation values, exterior and interior lighting fixtures, and appliances; inspecting ducts; and performing a blower door test.

For commercial properties, we have the Energy Star program which was developed as an energy performance rating systems for several commercial building types. The ratings on a scale of 1 to 100 provide a means for benchmarking the energy efficiency of specific buildings against the energy performance of similar facilities. The higher the number, the better the performance against similar buildings. It doesn’t take into account carbon emissions directly.

This type of scorecard reminds me of the benchmarks that we discussed on this blog that could show up on your electric bill.

What gets measured, gets done!

Here is the pyramid:

The conservation pyramid has 10 levels that, as you climb from the bottom, become increasingly more expensive and complex. As a point of interest, two of the most popular areas to get government money show up at the top, while the bottom level is just now being targeted by the proposed HOMESTAR program.

The pyramid is designed for homes, but it is a great look for commercial properties as well.

This study from 2009 was a joint project between CBRE and the University of San Diego which focused on 154 buildings in ten widely dispersed geographic markets. All the buildings had earned an Energy Star label and ranked in the top 25th percentile of comparable Energy Star buildings in either 2008 or 2009.

Here is a summary of the most interesting findings, outside of the typical higher rent rolls, lower vacancy, and lower energy costs:

• Consistently the data proved that even a single point improvement in the Energy Star score equates to a 80 percent to 100 percent improvement in energy usage. In other words, an improvement from 50 to 80 in Energy Star score would result in about 25 percent reduction in energy usage and costs.

• Separately metered tenants average 21 percent lower utility costs compared with those occupying buildings with a consolidated meter – From my graduate school business professor, “That which gets measured, get’s done!”



• More than 55 percent of respondents experienced reduced employee sick days in “green” spaces over their previous locations, with an average reduction of 2.88 days. When extrapolated to employee compensation levels, the economic benefit translates to slightly more than $5 per square foot, a significant number.

• When expanded to general productivity, rather than just employee productivity, the improvement was 4.88 percent. Again, applying the self-reported compensation levels to this percentage, we can predict an additional economic benefit of nearly $20 per square foot for the typical occupant.

• Overall, the study indicates that occupants gain on average nearly $25 per square foot in economic benefit from a “green” space, or more than 85 percent of the average rental rate.

More evidence that investing in greening your property yields greater greenbacks in your pocket. For those of you who haven’t heard the story of our company name, the above sentence is the backbone of that story…

Green Squared provides comprehensive turnkey energy efficiency solutions to owners, operators and occupants of commercial properties of all types in a manner which accomplishes two very different, but very important “green” objectives: (i) “green”, as in environmental sustainability, and (ii) “green”, as in cost savings. That’s Green²; that’s Green Squared!

I found this one particularly interesting as it was published by the USGBC North Texas office. USGBC – United States Green Building Council – birthed the LEED designation, and not all of the LEED discussion was flattering.

Anyway, here are my takeaways:

• According to the USGBC, there are 66 LEED® Certified commercial projects and 331 Registered projects (of which 21 and 124, respectively, comprise city-owned buildings, schools and libraries) in North Texas as of November 1, 2009.

• Newfound revelation about the efficiencies that could be achieved through everything from commuting habits, energy conserving technologies, recycling permeated the media and discussions, and served to highlight the importance (and operational benefits) of implementing green building practices like never before. Suddenly, certain elements of going green were viewed as more of a necessity than an option.

• In the past 18 months, almost all of the municipalities that comprise the DFW metroplex have embraced and implemented some level of green building methodology as part of the building inspection and permitting process, for new and retrofit projects. To quote a downtown Dallas leasing agent, “Green is here to stay.”

• From an informal survey (i.e. don’t extrapolate these numbers elsewhere):
o 48% of respondents have already implemented some level of green building retrofit – that is basically anything considered green from light bulbs to recycling to an actual retrofit project.
o Lighting and recycling led the way at 81% each
o Janitorial and consideration of LEED were at 61%
o HVAC upgrade was at 50%
o Some of the least implemented: green leases, use of green power (renewables), and common area plumbing retrofits

• What drove the green efforts? 90% of respondents indicated that their top 3 drivers were:
o Wanted to streamline operations and/or reduce utility costs
o Have a genuine concern for our environment – want to do the right thing
o Would like our efforts to generate positive PR for our company and the clients we represent

• 65% of respondents indicated that they were “Not Sure” that the LEED® Green Building Rating Systems were the best way to achieve, document and measure sustainability and green building performance.

As Ms. Robbins, herself a LEED AP suggests, “While the LEED® Rating Systems represent true progress – the “gold standard” – in achieving and documenting high performance and sustainability in commercial buildings, we cannot ignore the parallel mission of providing creative, affordable and asset-appropriate solutions that will encourage “baby-steps” to be taken toward greener facilities by the large population of building owners, managers, tenants and the myriad industry professionals that support them.”

This is the biggest point to be made in any discussion of energy efficient projects or buildings – whether you are interested in LEED designations or not (and there are very good reasons to get a LEED designation), there are literally hundreds of little and big things that can and should be done to existing buildings that do not get you a LEED plaque, but they do save you operating dollars every year that you own the building. And if you sell the building, the net operating income gets capitalized into the value of the building.

Doing nothing to lower your energy costs, lowers your annual cash flow and asset value.

Don’t forget that you can follow us on Twitter @greensquaredcom.