Energy-efficient facilities and operations

With all our customer service centers, state park campgrounds, fish hatcheries, and more, the Michigan DNR manages a lot of buildings! We are improving the energy efficiency of these buildings to lower both our carbon footprint and our utility bills. Of course, with so many buildings, this transition will take time, so we are starting with our facilities that currently use the most energy.

Learn more about how we are improving energy efficiency in our buildings below. This page will be updated regularly as we continue to work towards energy efficiency improvements within our facilities and operations.

We are conducting energy audits at our buildings to identify where we can improve energy efficiency to reduce how much energy those facilities use. The recommendations from energy audits help us prioritize where to invest in upgrades so we can make the biggest impact on our overall energy use.

We are replacing incandescent and fluorescent lights with LEDs, which use up to 75% less energy. They also last up to 25 times longer, meaning less maintenance cost because they don’t have to be changed out as often. We are also installing occupancy sensors and other automated lighting systems 

Inefficient heating and cooling systems, as well as inefficient fixtures like water heaters, can drive up a building’s energy use. We are working to upgrade old HVAC systems with energy efficient technologies like heat pumps. We are also replacing outdated fixtures like old water heaters with more energy-efficient models.

The “envelope” of a building is everything that separates the inside of the building from the outdoors- walls, windows, the roof, etc. If the building envelope is not well-sealed, it can cause air leaks which significantly increase how much energy is needed to heat and cool a building.