July 10, 2008
SAGINAW - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that the state of Michigan achieved an 18 percent reduction in energy use at state facilities throughout Michigan during the last fiscal year compared to FY 2002. If this reduction had not been achieved, the state would have paid an additional $21 million in annual utility costs.
Joining the governor for the announcement at the Jerome T. Hart state office building in Saginaw was Department of Management and Budget (DMB) Director Lisa Webb Sharpe who will receive an award this weekend in Philadelphia for Distinguished Service to State Government. The award will be presented by Governor Granholm on behalf of the National Governors Association.
"Since 2003, we have implemented a number of efficiencies to reduce energy use in state government-owned facilities," Granholm said. "At a time when energy costs are going up, our costs have gone down because of some common sense practices coupled with new products and technology. Many of the cost-saving steps we have taken in our state facilities citizens can take at home."
Granholm used the Hart state office building as a backdrop to highlight many of the steps the state has taken such as installing motion detectors and retrofitting light fixtures and reducing power to buildings at nights and on weekends. The Hart office building will soon feature a pilot thermal storage project that will freeze and store water at night to use in cooling the building during the day.
Other DMB projects that have cut energy usage include:
- installation of software that integrates building heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, lighting control, elevator monitoring, and energy management into one system that can be monitored and managed using a Web page.
- a pilot program that replaced fluorescent tube lighting with LED lamps in the Escanaba state office building. The new lamps will reduce energy use by 10,000 kilowatt-hours per year and cut costs $1,000 annually. Each lamp provides the equivalent of 25 years of lighting.
- installation of daylight harvesting ballasts in several state buildings. These fixtures control lights near windows. On sunny days, the lamps emit less light than on cloudy days. Lighting levels are consistent and unnoticed by occupants.
Since 2003, Granholm has issued a series of executive directives aimed at cutting energy use in state-owned and state-managed facilities. The Department of Management and Budget instituted energy audits in all its buildings, installed energy-saving technology, and implemented conservation methods to achieve the savings.
In an effort to help citizens save money, the governor last month announced a new feature on the state website designed to provide consumers with money-saving tips. The feature - www.michigan.gov/savemoney- combines information from throughout state government into one easy-to-find location and is part of the governor's continued efforts to help protect consumers' pocketbooks.
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