CHICAGO, IL — Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, the city's Department of Environment and the nonprofit ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA honored 34 property management firms, tenant companies and buildings in the Windy City's inaugural Green Office Challenge.

The contest, staged as part of the Chicago Climate Action Plan, is intended to spur friendly competition among city's heavyweights in property management and some of the largest office building tenants in town to see which can go the furthest to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Chicago's Climate Action Plan calls for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The built environment is responsible for about 70 percent of Chicago's greenhouse gas emissions, and commercial structures account for almost 40 percent of total GHG emissions.

A cornerstone of the city's climate plan is to cut energy consumption by 30 percent in 40 percent of residential units and to achieve the same reduction in 50 percent of commercial and industrial facilities.

Together over the course of a year, the 34 firms and properties that were singled out for their efforts:

• Cut energy use by more than 70 million kilowatt-hours of electricity -- an amount the contest sponsors said is equivalent to the energy used by 45,000 homes or using 125,000 barrels of oil.
• Prevented the emissions of more than 54,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – the equivalent of removing more than 10,000 cars from Chicago streets.
• Pared water use by more than 5 percent.
• Diverted more than 1,200 tons of materials from landfills

More than 150 property managers and tenant companies vied for recognition.

Next Page: The Winners.