2001 Energy StarO Award Winners
From Arden Realty to the University of Virginia, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awards improvement of energy efficiency in buildings and businesses. Here are the winners:
Arden Realty, Inc., Los Angeles, California
Arden Realty, Inc., a self-administered real estate investment trust, is the largest landlord of office properties in Southern California. Arden's continued leadership in the commercial real estate industry has earned them an Energy Star award for the second consecutive year. A key to Arden's success is their top-down management commitment that continually looks for ways to improve the performance of their properties through benchmarking and linking energy improvements to the financial value of their business. Arden now displays the Energy Star label on 80 properties, more than doubling the number of properties that qualified for Energy Star in 1999. In the forefront of adopting new approaches to accomplish their goals, Arden recently announced the installation of the largest solar array on an office property in the Western Hemisphere. Arden Realty's commitment to improvement has saved 50 million kWh of electricity and avoided 9 megawatts of demand.
Hilton Hotels Corporation, Beverly Hills, California
Hilton Hotels Corporation is committed to a corporate wide energy management program in 160 million square feet of its owned and managed properties. An important feature of their program is the requirement that all 535 properties comply with Standard Operating Procedures that include quarterly building inspections, rigorous preventive maintenance and a purchasing policy that includes Energy Star labeled products. A quarterly corporate benchmarking report that compares a variety of energy metrics across Hilton properties is sent to individual hotel general managers and directors. For poor performing hotels, Hilton makes available an independent consulting firm to conduct audits. Hilton initiated a successful agreement with Panasonic to offer Energy Star labeled televisions to franchised hotels that is now being expanded to cover all brands. Their corporate management approach has resulted in the prevention of more than 64 million pounds of carbon dioxide and the savings of $2.5 million.
Kingston School District, Ulster County, New York
Kingston School District completed an aggressive construction project to improve the energy performance of all the district schools in November 2000. A strategic energy management plan for the entire district had the top support of the Board of Education, who hired an energy manager to carry out the plan. The School board placed a high priority on reducing energy costs as a way to cover revenue lost from an eroding property tax base. Kingston has benchmarked their schools and identified 6 that have met the Energy Star criteria. In 2000, Kingston School District saved more than $395,000 through its energy-efficient upgrades.
M. J. Soffe Company, Fayetteville, North Carolina
M. J. Soffe Company, one of the country's leading vertical manufacturers of active
apparel, is committed to energy management and encourages similar practices from its customers and suppliers. M.J. Soffe has established a comprehensive energy tracking and benchmarking process to help management track progress toward its energy reduction goals. A quarterly report and year ending summary analysis highlighting the company's energy and environmental progress is submitted annually to the Board of Directors. To help North Carolina industries improve their methods of production and grow their profits, M.J. Soffe works in cooperation with DOE, EPA, and the state of North Carolina to publish articles, host seminars, present solutions at trade shows and make information available through their Web site.
Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc., East Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of J. Sainsbury plc of London, has been in business for 135 years, operates166 stores, and employs more than 28,000 people. Shaw's has established a corporate commitment to reduce CO2 emissions from energy for building services as a key component of their environmental policy. Having started their energy program in 1991, Shaw's carefully tracks the energy use in their stores as well as the effectiveness of its programs to make reductions. Knowing that 'we couldn't manage what we couldn't measure' Shaw's instituted an aggressive monitoring program, providing daily information that leads to saved time, energy and maintenance costs. Shaw's uses their industry leadership to highlight successful energy management approaches in articles and presentations. Shaw's has saved nearly three million dollars and prevented the release of about 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually.
Virtua Health System, Camden, New Jersey
Virtua Health, the largest provider of healthcare in Southern New Jersey, has aggressively pursued energy-efficient upgrades throughout its five hospitals since 1993. The 1,100-bed institution went beyond lighting retrofits and adopted an integrated approach to building upgrades with additional work on building automation systems, motors, and air handling units in their newly constructed and existing facilities. Virtua monitors their energy cost savings on a monthly basis and circulates the monthly reports to the President and CFO to highlight the cost effectiveness and community benefits of the energy program. In addition to monthly reporting, an annual report has been prepared for the last 4 years and is presented to the Board of Directors. The comprehensive energy program has resulted in a 21percent reduction in annual energy costs, leading to Virtua being highlighted to other businesses and institutions as a case study for their successes.
Johnson Controls, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Johnson Controls' products, services, and workplaces all reflect its belief that what is good for the environment is also good for Johnson Controls. Johnson Controls has reduced its energy costs by more than 25 percent, and Johnson Controls works diligently through their services and products to help clients earn the Energy Star label for buildings. Johnson Controls has implemented a strategic energy management plan and aggressively promotes energy efficiency through internal newsletters, its Intranet site, press releases, and events. Johnson Controls has saved more than $820,000 and has prevented about 20 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
Servidyne Systems, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
Servidyne Systems, Inc. has provided building owners and managers with products and services that make building operations more efficient in terms of energy use, occupant satisfaction and labor productivity for 25 years. Servidyne pioneered energy benchmarking in the early 1980's and has used Energy Star as a natural progression for bringing recognition to clients as well as a way to bring more focused attention to achieving a reduction goal. Servidyne uses benchmarking as the basis for long-term energy efficiency improvements and continues to be a leader in the industry for improving its client's energy efficiency. In 2000, Servidyne benchmarked 94 of their clients facilities and helped to provide services that led to the award of an Energy Star label on 38 buildings.
University of Missouri at Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
Since 1995, the University of Missouri at Columbia (UM) has invested $6.1 million in energy efficiency projects throughout its campus. One million dollars were invested to convert the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Building from a constant volume system to a variable volume system. This included converting all of their laboratory fume hoods to variable volume fume hoods. The university also undertook outreach efforts including conducting intensive employee education, developing external promotion campaigns, and recruiting other organizations. The University of Missouri saved $170,000 in the first five months of its upgrades, almost doubling the original energy audit estimate of savings at $200,000 annually.
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) encompasses more than 3,450 acres of land in five counties, and consists of almost 600 buildings or major facilities, approximately 100 of which have been built, substantially remodeled, or acquired since 1990. Energy efficiency is promoted through UVA's newsletter 'Watt's Happening', at industry events, and through an annual two-day Energy Awareness Day event. UVA estimates that it saves over $3.5 million annually due to its upgraded central chiller plant and its lighting system upgrades.
Verizon, Albany, New York
Verizon, one of the world's leading providers of communications services, has dedicated an energy team of a dozen management employees to focus entirely on the wide range of energy issues affecting this Fortune 10 company. Team Energy, along with department heads across the business, meet quarterly as the Energy Board of Directors to develop, implement and sustain a world class energy program. Verizon's program features a corporate purchasing policy, a strong employee communication effort, energy auditing and reviews in the most wasteful buildings, system design, data tracking and investigation of alternative clean fuel sources, such as fuel cells. Verizon utilizes Energy Star to benchmark their administrative facilities as a way to prioritize and motivate facilities to bring their energy standards to a higher level. Verizon projects saving over $20 million annually from its more than 14,000 energy reduction projects implemented in over 60 percent of their facilities in 2000.
Hines, Houston, TX
Hines, a Texas-based, privately owned real estate firm involved in developing, managing, leasing, and acquiring real estate, is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Hines has demonstrated top level commitment to their energy program and incorporates energy management into their best in class business practices. Hines has benchmarked the energy performance of 83 percent of its office building square footage and achieved the Energy Star label for 32 buildings, or 37 percent of its eligible office portfolio. On average, Hines properties use 24 percent less energy than the average office building.
