B2.9 Municipal building retrofits
Continue to identify and implement priority energy efficiency improvements in municipal buildings.
Olympia –
The City has 12 buildings, and has taken a lot of different steps to reduce their energy use, including:
- Building occupant engagement campaigns – making occupants aware of things they can do to save energy, operating windows properly and shutting garage bay doors to reduce heat loss.
- Upgrading indoor and outdoor building lighting to LEDs.
- Reducing inefficient space heater use in buildings.
- Monitoring energy consumption and automation systems that control HVAC to ensure systems are operating properly.
- Engaging actively with Facilities staff to implement energy saving technology and ideas.
- Reviewing energy data and progress on energy saving ideas/projects quarterly.
It’s reduced its building energy use by 25% since 2011, and reduced its annual energy costs by 32%, paying $148,000 less for energy in 2018 than it did in 2011. (It participates in PSE’s Commercial Strategic Energy Management Program, and also received roughly $29,000 in cash incentive payments for its energy reductions between 2014 and 2018 through that program.)
Tumwater –
In 2008, a General Administration/WSU Energy Office Team did interviews with staff and comprehensive tours of nine City buildings to three reports on potential building energy conservation measures for the City, which are available through links on the bottom of its climate change page. The City’s made a lot of investments in building energy efficiency.