Join us for the 2018 Green Business and Building Energy Challenge Awards! The City of Minneapolis is recognizing small businesses and buildings participating in the City's Building Energy Challenge for their efforts to save energy and improve local air quality. Recognition will occur during the City's Public Health, Environment, Civil Rights, and Engagement (PECE) Committee meeting.  RSVP here.

Monday Nov. 5th, 1:30 PM

City Council Chambers - Room 317, City Hall, 350 S. 5th St, Minneapolis, MN 55415

CenterPoint Energy is holding webinars to demonstrate a pre-release version of their whole-building energy data aggregation tool (EDAT). The purpose of the EDAT project is to facilitate data access and benchmarking capabilities for multi-tenant building owners while protecting customer information. The objective for CenterPoint’s tool is to automatically aggregate energy use data and allow it to interface with the Environmental Protection Agency’s building energy use benchmarking tool, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®.

Webinars will be held on 10/23/2018 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM and 10/29/2018 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM. The Company welcomes interested stakeholders to provide input regarding the EDAT’s user interface and to express interest in volunteering to be testers of a pre-release version of the tool. Training for potential users of the tool will be made available in future meetings once testing is completed and EDAT has been released.

If you are interested in attending this event, please email Ethan Warner at ethan.warner@centerPointenergy.com for an invitation.

The averages published by EPA in advance of the updates were based on typical buildings of each type. Your building’s score change will vary from the average we published depending on its energy use, fuel mix, business activity, property type, and other variables. Furthermore, by definition roughly half of buildings of any type should have larger decreases than average, and half should have smaller decreases than average.

For more information, please visit ENERGY STAR's website. 

Tips from EPA's ENERGY STAR:

• Replace default values: The EPA added a number of new required property use details for several property types, and populated these with conservative default values. Replace them with actual values to improve accuracy, and possibly your score. Learn more .
• Benchmark data center space: If you have data center space within your building, but it isn’t metered as required for benchmarking, you have a new option to use “estimated” data to account for the high energy intensity of data center spaces, and possibly increase your score. Learn more.
• Check data for accuracy: Confirm that all your other benchmarking data is accurate. Small errors can sometimes have a big impact.
• Identify potential projects in your building: Find low-cost opportunities for improvements within your properties using the EPA's new Treasure Hunt resources, which many organizations have used to reduce their energy use by up to 15 percent.

In the sixth year of benchmarking, the City of Minneapolis has released individual building results for private commercial buildings 50,000 sq.ft. and greater.  

To review 2017 and previous years' results, visit the City's results page.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Better Buildings Interior Lighting Campaign (ILC) recently recognized 15 organizations for leading the way in upgrading their interior lighting and control systems. These partners, along with those recognized in the last two years, have newly installed or upgraded more than 2.8 million lighting fixtures and controls system - cutting energy use on average by 54% and saving $68 million on energy bills. Read the full story here. 

Parking ramps may not use the most energy, but can often still benefit from significant energy savings with lighting upgrades. The Hospital Parking Ramp located on Hennepin County Medical Center's campus is a great example of this. The ramp has undergone three lighting upgrades since 2010, with each upgrade lowering electric bills and creating a safer, better lit space. The ramp also took advantage of utility rebates and the City's Green Business Cost Share funding for a faster return on investment. Read Hospital Parking Ramp's full story here.