Both of Southface’s teams – Boys & Girls Clubs All Stars and Grants to Green 2015 – successfully completed EPA’s 2015 ENERGY STAR® National Building Competition. The competition was a chance for more than 6,500 buildings and 125 teams to save money as they competed to improve energy and water efficiency, lower utility costs and protect public health and the environment. Combined, the Southface teams reduced their energy and water costs by more than $455,000 in 2015.
The Boys & Girls Clubs All Stars team placed first in water savings and second in energy savings overall. The team was comprised of 12 buildings across six states in the Southeast that participated in the recently established BGCA Energy & Water Efficiency Program (EWEP). The South Rome Boys & Girls Club was the number one building for water reduction. Eight of the clubs – Boys & Girls Clubs of Loudon County, Lenoir City, TN; Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Davidson County, Thomasville, NC; Boys & Girls Club of Whitfield County – Carl Rollins Unit, Dalton, GA; Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Delta – Greenwood, MS; AG Gaston Boys & Girls Club – Kirkwood Balton Unit, Birmingham, AL; Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Alabama – Hueytown/Pleasant Grove, Hueytown, AL; Salvation Army Fuqua Boys & Girls Club, Atlanta, GA; and South Rome Boys & Girls Club, Rome, GA are recognized as top savers and/or for reaching the 20 percent competition savings goal. Collectively, the BGCA All Stars team have realized $131,574 in annual utilities cost savings.
“The results have made a big impact on how our organization views savings and conserving. The savings on utilities enable us to add needed program supplies, hire additional staff and help us raise money to secure additional needs for our Clubs,” said Robbie Slocumb, Executive Director of Boys & Girls Club of Chattooga, Gordon, Murray and Whitfield Counties.
The Grants to Green 2015 team finished third in water savings and tenth in energy savings. The team consisted of seven buildings and three of these; A Friend’s House, Woodruff Arts Center and Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School have been recognized for reaching the 20 percent competition savings goal. It is also worth noting that Woodruff Arts Center Memorial Arts Building, Asbury Harris Epworth Towers, Rhodes Hall, Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School Middle Campus and A Friend’s House have also met the 20 percent savings goal for the Atlanta Better Buildings Challenge. With team savings totaling $362,568, these Atlanta nonprofits will be able to provide more arts, youth and social service programs.
“The teams competing in this year’s Battle of the Buildings showed incredible dedication and ingenuity in finding ways to save energy and water,” said Jean Lupinacci, chief of the ENERGY STAR Commercial and Industrial Branch. “Their achievements don’t just help their own bottom line through lower utility bills, they also help all of us by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrating what savings are possible in the built environment.
The 2015 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition measured energy performance over the entire 2015 calendar year. Competitors tracked their building’s monthly energy consumption using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, EPA’s online energy and water measurement and tracking tool. Energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with EPA’s ENERGY STAR program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere each year.
For profiles of all the winning teams including how they achieved their success visit www.energystar.gov/battleofthebuildings to download the 2015 Competition Wrap-Up Report.
