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WASHINGTON, DC — A residence hall at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Sears store in Maryland and a JCPenney in California took first, second and third place respectively in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's contest to find the biggest kilowatt loser in the country.
The EPA announced the winners of the inaugural National Building Competition last week. The agency charted the energy performance of contestants from September 1, 2009, through August 31, 2010, using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, an online energy measurement and tracking tool.
To win, a building needed to achieve the greatest reduction in energy consumption relative to building size and adjusted to account for changes in weather. Competitors were required to provide third-party utility statements to verify energy performance.
"The amazing results of the first-ever National Building Competition prove that any building can take simple steps to slash energy use, save thousands of dollars and protect the environment," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said a statement. "Our top participants together saved nearly a million dollars by cutting energy use, and that's just in the first year. We look forward to seeing even greater savings and energy innovations in the years ahead."
The winner was the Morrison Residence Hall at UNC (top picture), which reduced its energy use by 35.7 percent in one year and saved more than $250,000 on energy bills.
The dorm also avoided more than 730 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, an amount equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of nearly 90 homes for a year, according to the EPA.
The second-place winner was a Sears store in Glen Burnie, Md., that cut energy use by 31.7 percent. A JCPenney store in Orange, Calif., came in third with energy savings of 28.4 percent.
Fourteen buildings qualified for the competition. Collectively, they reduced energy use by more than 44 million kBtu, saved more than $950,000 in utility bills, and avoided carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to those from the electricity use of approximately 600 homes for a year, the EPA said.
Images courtesy of the EPA.
Firstly, it is very good and
Firstly, it is very good and amazing news for UNC because one residence hall was honored for green one. However, I would like to give one opposite side question. “Yes, that building is good for environment but it also good for students?” The most important thing of residential hall is comfortableness, and there is no consideration for that in this survey. In other word, any construction company can build very very energy efficient building without any consideration. But, in reality, that is not all.
My point is that EPA must consider other factors together for making ranking, and show how good building can reduce energy with keeping high level of comfortableness.