The energy usage of 40,146 public buildings—including schools, hospitals, and offices—in England and Wales is being released to the public. Among the findings: only 568 buildings get 1% or more of their electrical energy from renewable energy sources but 119 buildings get more than 50% of their electrical energy from renewable sources; Manchester University has the highest carbon emissions on this list, producing 51,601 tons of CO2 in 2008; and a recreation center uses the most electricity proportionally of any building on this list: 475 kw per hour per square metre.
Source: Sustainable Cities Collective
Related Stories
| May 11, 2011
DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.
| May 10, 2011
Solar installations on multifamily rooftops aid social change
The Los Angeles Business Council's study on the feasibility of installing solar panels on the city’s multifamily buildings shows there's tremendous rooftop capacity, and that a significant portion of that rooftop capacity comes from buildings in economically depressed neighborhoods. Solar installations could therefore be used to create jobs, lower utility costs, and improve conditions for residents in these neighborhood.
| May 3, 2011
North Carolina State University partners with Schneider Electric, targets energy efficiency
Schneider Electric is partnering with North Carolina State University on energy efficiency projects for 1.6 million square feet of building space across 13 campus facilities. As part of the $20 million project, the university will implement 89 separate energy conservation measures that will save the school approximately 10,137,668 kilowatt hours of electricity and 68,785 decatherms of natural gas annually.
| Apr 19, 2011
America’s energy use, in one handy chart
The Grist takes a look at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's famed energy flow charts and tells us what we’re wasting and what we’re doing well. Turns out, commercial buildings account for the smallest amounts of energy use.
| Apr 11, 2011
Wind turbines to generate power for new UNT football stadium
The University of North Texas has received a $2 million grant from the State Energy Conservation Office to install three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid and provide power to UNT’s new football stadium.
| Mar 8, 2011
Building, energy performance rating site launched
The Institute for Market Transformation and the Natural Resources Defense Council announced the launch of BuildingRating.org, the world’s first comprehensive resource on energy performance rating and disclosure policies for commercial buildings and homes.
| Mar 2, 2011
New ASHRAE standard may be too broad for the Canadian market
New Standard 189.1 from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), which goes beyond energy efficiency to include provisions that affect construction, post-occupancy monitoring, and site control, may be too much for the Canadian market—at least for now.
| Mar 1, 2011
Honeywell to implement China’s first smart grid project for managing energy use in commercial buildings
Honeywell announced it was selected to develop and implement China’s first smart grid pilot project and feasibility study for managing energy use in commercial buildings, also known as demand-side management. The project is part of a grant agreement signed today between the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and State Grid Electric Power Research Institute (SGEPRI), sponsor of the project and a subsidiary of State Grid Corp. of China.
