Sustainability & The Environment News

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Feds announce energy savings contracting

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Barack Obama announced that the federal government will spend nearly $4 billion in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next two years through the use of Energy Savings Performance Contracting.

U.S. General Services Administrator Martha Johnson called this, “bold leadership and vision for the future of our nation.”

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Seattle balances economic and environmental goals

SEATTLE, Wash.—As local governments across the country struggle to balance economic and environmental goals, an agreement creates a national model to do both. The City of Seattle, in partnership with the Preservation Green Lab and Vulcan Real Estate, is piloting a new energy code designed to help developers of historic buildings meet rigorous energy efficiency goals in the most cost-efficient way.

The deal, codified in a Memorandum of Agreement signed by all the three partners, will exempt the Supply Laundry Building, a historic 30,000-sq.ft.-building in South Lake Union, from many of the prescriptive energy code requirements that commonly discourage developers from renovating older, historic buildings. The City of Seattle will set clear and rigorous energy efficiency targets for the building, but will not dictate precisely how those targets must be met. The move provides building owner Vulcan and its engineers far greater flexibility in reaching required energy efficiency targets.

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Arroyo Grande works on energy upgrades

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif.—The City of Arroyo Grande in the Central Coast has made full use of grants and loans from federal stimulus funds to complete energy upgrades in eight city facilities.

New energy-efficient equipment and controls will reduce electricity consumption and reduce the carbon footprint at the City Hall, Woman's Club, Community Center, Corporate Yard, Council Chambers, Fire Station, Elm Street Community Center, and the Soto Sports Complex.

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Kent State awards Battelle

COLUMBUS, Ohio—For three years, Battelle has worked with Kent State University (KSU) on a congressionally funded fuel cell project. Kent State faculty and students assisted Battelle in developing a fuel cell power generator for military applications. The advanced power generator is more fuel efficient, quieter and produces less pollution than the existing military diesel generators it is designed to replace. As a result of this project, KSU has selected Battelle for the George Schneider Experiential Learning Award, "Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry."

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GSA tests sustainable building technologies

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it will test and evaluate 16 emerging sustainable building technologies and practices in select federal facilities under its Green Proving Ground program. Testing will determine the most effective technologies that may then be replicated on a wider-scale basis throughout the GSA inventory with the goal of transforming markets for these technologies.

The technologies selected were from a pool of approximately 140 projects across GSA's national portfolio that are currently implementing innovative or underutilized sustainable building technologies. The 16 technologies and practices were selected for evaluation because they have the greatest potential to meet GSA's sustainability goals. Technologies chosen include wireless temperature sensors, electrochromic windows, high R-value windows, integrated lighting systems, thin-film photovoltaic panels, solar water heating with integrated photovoltaic panels, chilled beams, and non-chemical water treatment systems.

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SUNY to gain new building

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—The State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) has received a $963,000 grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to help fund an innovative $3 million combined-heat-and-power system that will provide energy and heat for the college's new Gateway Building. The CHP project is made up of two complimentary systems. The first is a biomass-based system that will produce high-pressure steam which will be used to generate electricity by moving through a steam turbine before it is used to heat campus buildings. Complementing the biomass system will be three natural gas-fired microturbines that will provide a balance of electricity and steam for heating.

The CHP system will provide the Gateway Building and four other buildings on campus with both thermal and electrical energy. Combined heat-and-power systems produce electrical and thermal energy simultaneously, reducing waste energy and improving overall system efficiency.

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