2008 in Review
A Banner Year for AEGB
AEGB's Commercial Program rated over 3 million square feet in 2008, including the first 5 star commercial rating in our history, the Dell Childrens’ Medical Center of Central Texas. Additionally, the LCRA Redbud Center, the Ella Wooten Park, and the Home Depot at Mueller each achieved 4 stars.
The 2008 rated commercial projects reduced demand on AE’s generation capacity by 4.4 megawatts (MW)--this equates to over 12 million kilowatt hours (kwh) of energy, and saves about the same amount of CO2 as planting 270,000 trees or taking 1,700 cars off our roads. Not only do these projects save energy, they also reduce indoor building water use by 14 million gallons annually, irrigation water use by 7 million gallons per peak month, and save 5 million gallons of cooling water at our power plants. These rated projects diverted over 43,300 tons of construction debris from landfills, equal to the weight of 17,320 Ford F150 trucks.
New single-family starts fell to less than 3000 homes in the AE service area in 2008, but AEGB's Single-Family Program ratings rose from 988 in 2007 to 1022. Even more impressive is that 71 of those homes were 5-star homes. Between 1999 and 2007, our cummulative total of 5-star homes was 50. Most of these 71 homes were speculative homes which is indicative of a huge change in the building industry. Overall, more than 330 of those 1022 homes were rated as 3 star or higher. This really says something about the value building professionals and their customers place on sustainability.
AEGB's Multifamily Program rated 9 properties with 1.9 million square feet of space and 1611 units. This includes the Akoya, a 4 star remodel on S. Lamar, the highest rated multifamily remodel ever. We also have three new multifamily case studies, thanks to Alex Howell, one of our 2008 interns.
In all, AEGB-rated green building projects reduced energy use by 42 million kilowatt hours or $4 million that stayed in our customers pockets this year and in the years to come. AEGB-rated projects and energy code savings reduced demand on power plant capacity by 27 megawatts. It would cost AE and the City more than $30 million to build that much capacity. And most importantly, these rated projects will reduce CO2 emissions from our power plants by 27,298 metric tons every year. That’s the equivalent of taking almost 6,000 cars off our roads every year.
Green Building and the Energy Code
AEGB is responsible for developing new energy codes for the City. The new energy code that went into effect on January 1, 2008 was the first step in implementing the Austin Climate Protection Plan’s Zero Energy Capable Homes initiative. Austin's new energy code is one of the most aggressive in the nation and will reduce energy use in a typical home by about 2500 kilowatt hours a year or by 19%. This is the first of four energy code cycles that will eventually lead us to Zero Energy Capable Homes, or homes that are 65% more efficient than 2006 code homes, by 2015.
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