October 27, 2010

The Albemarle County Office Building located on 5th Street has earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) prestigious Energy Star, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency.

This signifies that the building performs in the top 25% of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency. This is the 2nd County Office Building to receive the Energy Star – the McIntire Rd. building earned the award in September 2008.

This achievement is due in part to the County’s aggressive goal to reduce energy usage in local government buildings by 30% by the end of 2012. As of July 2010, Albemarle has reduced its overall energy consumption from local government buildings by 20.3% as compared to its baseline year of 2005.

"The County is pleased to accept EPA’s Energy Star in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said County Executive Bob Tucker. “Through this achievement, we have demonstrated our commitment to environmental stewardship while also lowering our energy costs.”

To earn the Energy Star at the 5th Street office building, the County has:

- conducted an investment-grade energy audit

- used software to track, benchmark and monitor energy use

- replaced many older lights with more energy efficient lighting

- reduced or removed unnecessary lighting

- installed a solar thermal system to reduce the use of natural gas for heating water in the building

- installed low-flow fixtures and showerheads

- installed over 100 occupancy sensors

- replaced aging equipment

- incentivized employees by launching a friendly departmental competition called “Un-plug Albemarle”

- dedicated a large portion of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) funds from the Department of Energy (DOE) towards energy efficiency improvements in facilities

You can visit Albemarle County’s energy program website for more information.