Department of General Services Secretary James P. Creedon this week announced the Commonwealth is leading by example and has reduced energy consumption in state-owned buildings by 18 percent, which saves taxpayers $2.2 million a year in utility costs.

 

“Our targeted effort to improve the operating efficiency of our state office buildings over the last few years has dramatically reduced our energy consumption and is saving precious financial resources,” Secretary Creedon said. “When Gov. Rendell put DGS in charge of an energy-management and conservation campaign in all state-owned buildings through executive order in 2004, he challenged us to lower our energy consumption by 20 percent by 2011. Having reached 18 percent, I am very confident that Pennsylvania is well on its way to shattering that goal.”

 

Secretary Creedon said that steps Gov. Rendell put into effect in July increased the commonwealth’s energy conservation percentage from 10 percent then to the new milestone announced this week.

The Governor instituted the measures—which included setting temperatures in buildings to 75 degrees during the summer and 67 degrees during the winter, controlling interior lighting, using more fuel efficient vehicles, and cutting electricity use during periods of peak demand when it is most expensive—to counter rising energy prices.

 

Those steps followed five years of strategic initiatives by the Department of General Services to create an energy-savings culture and focus on using environmentally friendly renewable energy sources.

Creedon pointed to the use of Guaranteed Energy-Savings Act projects that improve the overall efficiency of a building with no up-front capital expenditure and are available to local governments, school districts and other organizations. The energy and cost-savings achieved by the project are used to finance the costs of the work, making the project essentially budget neutral.

 

Examples of GESA program improvements include heating and ventilation upgrades, adding insulation, replacing incandescent lighting with florescent light, using low flow restroom fixtures, or replacing single-pane windows with double-pane.

 

There are 38 GESA projects underway at state-owned buildings. Once all projects are completed, the state will avoid using nearly 266 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually—or the same amount of energy needed to power nearly 25,000 average residential homes for one full year. It will also avoid emitting 136,768 tons of carbon dioxide annually, which would be the equivalent of removing 23,890 passenger vehicles from the road each year.

 

Gov. Rendell also directed DGS to increase its purchase of green power to 50 percent by mid-2010. At 50 percent, the commonwealth’s green power use will exceed 500 million kilowatts, which is enough electricity to power all the homes in Allentown and Easton (50,000).

 

Secretary Creedon also said Pennsylvania buys environmentally-preferable products or services whenever possible. Analysis is required on each commodity and service during the bid process to determine what green options are available for purchase. Green options should be used whenever a product or service is comparable in quality, availability and price, Secretary Creedon said.

 

For example, small appliances must be certified as “Energy Star” compliant, paper must include at least 30 percent post-consumer fiber, and motor oil and toner cartridges must be recycled.

 

For more information on Commonwealth energy saving efforts, visit the DGS Energy webpage.