General Services Department
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City of Houston Police Headquarters Earns EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Certification for Superior Energy Efficiency
December 30, 2015 -- The Houston Police Department Headquarters, a 28-story building in downtown Houston, managed by the City of Houston’s General Services Department, has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR certification, which signifies that the building performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.
"The City of Houston is pleased to accept EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said General Service Department Director Scott Minnix. "Through this achievement, we have demonstrated the City’s commitment to environmental stewardship while also improving facility performance to save money and reduce energy bills.”
Commercial buildings that earn EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Through the collection and analysis of municipal facility energy-use data the City is able to identify operational and management modifications to reduce energy consumption, save taxpayer’s money and increase government transparency.
Houston has a legacy of implementing efficiency projects in the public and private sectors, such as the Houston Green Office Challenge, a friendly competition that challenges commercial property managers and office tenants to improve their building performance, and the City Energy Efficiency Policy, which promotes energy efficiency in the municipal operation of basic facilities, services, and installations. Further, through its Municipal Energy Efficiency Program, the City has retrofitted nearly six million square feet and invested $70 million in more-efficient systems and technologies, with buildings achieving energy reductions approaching 30 percent. Houston also has invested in green building certifications. Since 2004, New or renovated city buildings over 10,000 SF are required to achieve LEED certification, usually with Silver certification goal in mind, with 25 LEED certified projects to date, and the city is among the top 10 cities in the United States with the most ENERGY STAR-certified buildings.
“Improving the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings is critical to protecting our environment, “ said Jean Lupinacci, Chief of the ENERGY STAR Commercial & Industrial Branch. “From the boiler room to the board room, organizations are leading the way by making their buildings more efficient and earning EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification.”
EPA’s ENERGY STAR energy performance scale helps organizations assess how efficiently their buildings use energy relative to similar buildings nationwide. A building that scores a 75 or higher on EPA’s 1-100 scale may be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. Commercial buildings that can earn the ENERGY STAR include offices, bank branches, data centers, financial centers, retail stores, courthouses, hospitals, hotels, K-12 schools, medical offices, supermarkets, dormitories, houses of worship, and warehouses.
ENERGY STAR was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 65 different kinds of products, 1.4 million new homes, and 20,000 commercial buildings and industrial plants that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the EPA. Over the past twenty years, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions with help from ENERGY STAR.
For more information about ENERGY STAR Certification for Commercial Buildings: www.energystar.gov/labeledbuildings