Houston Retrofits City Buildings to Save Energy,
Protect Climate
HOUSTON, Texas, October 24, 2008 (ENS) -
Houston is about to become the first U.S. city to retrofit municipal
buildings to reduce energy and water consumption as part of the Clinton
Climate Initiative. The energy efficiency improvements are projected to save
enough electricity annually to create millions of dollars in savings and
lower greenhouse gas emissions from America's fourth largest city.
The project also will focus on making emergency response facilities
disaster-resistant and passively survivable, strengthening the buildings'
capacity to maintain critical life-support conditions in the event of
extended loss of power, heating fuel, or water, or in the event of
extraordinary heat spells.
The Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit program
brings together some of the world's largest energy service companies,
financial institutions, and cities to reduce energy consumption in existing
buildings.
Houston City Hall is among the buildings to receive a retrofit. (Photo
credit unknown)
"We're committed to making these changes and institutionalizing best
sustainability practices in the way the city of Houston operates," says
Mayor Bill White. "It will improve our quality of life, protect the
environment, save us money, and it's simply the right thing to do."
Siemens Building Technologies has been awarded a contract to retrofit some
5.5 million square feet of city facilities.
"Siemens applauds Houston's effort in partnership with CCI," says George
Nolen, president of Siemens USA. "We are committed to bringing the full
depth of our experience, project management and technology to help Houston
attain its goals in environmental protection."
Siemens engineers and technicians will analyze a range of sustainable and
green initiatives to find the best ways to conserve energy and reduce
greenhouse gases.
"Our first priority will be to consider what improvements can be made to the
City of Houston's 271 facilities, addressing energy efficiency, conservation
and operational cost reductions," said engineer Issa Dadoush, director for
the City of Houston's General Services Department.
Siemens and the City of Houston have just finished the third phase of an
extensive multi-million dollar demand-side interior lighting retrofit
program which helped the city avoid using some 5,320,000 kilowatt hours of
electricity annually. This allowed Houston officials to receive more than
$250,000 in rebate dollars from the local utility, CenterPoint Energy.
The interior lighting retrofit program alone resulted in enough annual
electricity savings to avoid the equivalent of emitting 2,642 tons per year
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Siemens will also be busy retrofitting the majority of Houston's traffic
signals with energy efficient light-emitting diode, LED, lamps under a new
contract with the Department of Public Works.
"We are doing many things throughout the city to manage our costs and save
energy," said Mayor White. "Replacing traffic signals with LED lights, for
example, will end up saving us millions of dollars."
In the 2007 State of the City address, Mayor White challenged the business
community to join the city government in slowing energy consumption over the
next three years.
"Our goal is to make Houston the energy conservation capital of the world,"
the mayor said. "It makes good business sense."
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