Energy Upgrades Reduce City Costs

When the City of Temple Terrace started tracking its energy usage with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2007, the beginning baseline rating of was below the qualification for Energy Star recognition.

After four years of energy improvements, City Hall has not only earned its Energy Star rating, it has also reduced energy costs by 25.8 percent, according to the city’s .

“The upgrades have made a significant difference,” said in a press release. “We will continue to look for ways to reduce costs and improve energy efficiency in all of our city buildings.”

According to the Energy Star website, the EPA introduced Energy Star in 1992 as a voluntary program to identify and promote energy-efficient products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The program first labeled computers and monitors, and over the years, it expanded to cover new homes and commercial and industrial buildings.

The ratings, on a scale of 1 to 100, provide a means of standardizing the energy efficiency of specific buildings against the performance measures of similar structures. If the ratings are above 75, then the facility qualifies for Energy Star recognition.

The three-story, 32,112-square-foot City Hall building earned a rating of 60 in 2007, according to the press release.

The next year, the city began making upgrades to its lighting occupancy sensors, ductwork repairs, enhanced ceiling insulation, and heater and air-conditioning improvements, the release states.

In 2011, City Hall’s Energy Star rating was 78, placing the building in the top 23 percent of similar existing buildings nationwide, according to the release.

A lot of the credit goes to Deputy Director Ray LeBlanc and Community Development Secretary Lisa Cosky for seeing the project through, city officials said in the release.

“I am so appreciative that our Community Development staff members had the vision to initiate these improvements with limited resources,” a testimonial from Reichard on the online Energy Star City Hall Profile reads. “It isn’t always easy to implement changes, but the modifications were trouble-free. The upgrades have made a significant difference in awareness that ‘lights-on’ means dollars; consequently electric bills decreased by 16 percent from 2010-2011.”