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Stadium Managers Association 2011 Energy Bowl in "Full Swing"

The competition is heating up! This year, the Stadium Managers Association (SMA) launched the inaugural Energy Bowl benchmarking competition. SMA, an association comprised of personnel from professional sports teams, colleges and universities, public sports authorities, and suppliers to the industry, is dedicated exclusively to stadium operations. In February, 28 members of the association committed to benchmarking 12 months of energy data in EPA's ENERGY STAR online energy measurement and tracking tool, Portfolio Manager, and to lowering their venues' energy use intensity (EUI). The plan for the competition is to track and observe the participating stadiums' progress, and to recognize the greatest energy reductions over the course of 2011.

Now, with more than half the year gone, the mid-point results are rolling in. On September 20, SMA and ENERGY STAR held a webinar to update participants on the status of the competition to date, and to address any technical benchmarking issues for the benefit of the entire group.  This meeting also provided a forum for exchange of information on best practices and exciting achievements and helped prepare the participants for the final months of the competition..

The culmination of this competition will be at the SMA Annual Seminar in February 2012, when the Energy Bowl winners will be announced. SMA will recognize stadiums within each of three primary leagues (Major League Baseball, National Football League, and National Collegiate Athletic Association) with the greatest improvement in energy performance compared to their 2010 baseline year.  SMA will also recognize the league with the greatest average reduction across all participating stadiums. 

To learn more about the SMA Energy Bowl, click here . If your organization would like to learn more about leveraging Portfolio Manager and ENERGY STAR resources to launch a benchmarking competition, visit the ENERGY STAR website, here.

Green Sports Alliance Enjoys Major Success in its First Year

The Green Sports Alliance (GSA), a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce the environmental impact of professional sports, held its first Green Sports Summit on August 1-3, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.  GSA, an ENERGY STAR partner, was formally launched just five months ago and quickly attracted over 45 sports teams, venues, and partners, and continues to expand in size and scope.  In fact, on July 28, leading sports and entertainment company AEG announced that its AEG 1EARTH program would become a founding partner of the Alliance — with the addition of AEG's 50+ venues more than doubling GSA's membership. This marks a significant milestone in the coalition's growth, which is already attracting the attention of major sports franchises, leagues and government agencies.

So far to date, GSA has brought together teams from numerous professional sports leagues to tackle environmental issues in conjunction with facility management partners such as AEG and environmental leaders like the EPA and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).   By fostering this coordination within and beyond the sports industry, GSA is harnessing the expertise of its members to promote environmental stewardship to the millions of Americans that attend sporting events each year.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson took part in the opening remarks for the Green Sports Summit, speaking to the audience via video feed. Previously, Administrator Jackson had congratulated the founding members of the Green Sports Alliance "for recognizing the importance of protecting the environment and stepping up their green game."  In her remarks at the Summit, Jackson also noted that, "the Green Sports Alliance is helping to show the professional sports world and the entire nation that taking steps to save energy, cut waste, and clean up pollution is not just good for our health, it's also good for the bottom line." 

ENERGY STAR is excited to work with the Green Sports Alliance and its members, and to provide tools and resources to pursue the sustainability goals espoused by the Alliance. In September, ENERGY STAR and GSA co-hosted a live training entitled “Team up with ENERGY STAR to Save Energy, Save Money, and Protect the Environment." This webinar was intended to introduce sports teams and venues to the ENERGY STAR program, and to help them understand that benchmarking energy use is a critical component of green operations.

To learn more about GSA and its initiatives, visit http://www.greensportsalliance.org/ . 

EPA's National Building Competition Reaches the Last Leg!

The 2011 National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings has progressed steadily as 245 buildings across the country industriously work to curb their energy use. In July, EPA announced the top category contenders as of the midpoint. In early November, you'll see which buildings came out on top overall, as well as the cumulative impact of all competitors. In case you missed it, below is a list of the top category contenders as of the midpoint:

Bank: USE Credit Union: San Diego, Calif. 20%
Courthouse: Hammond U.S. Courthouse: Hammond, Ind. 14%
Dormitory: Kenan Residence Hall at UNC: Chapel Hill, N.C. 3%
Hospital: St Mark's Medical Center: La Grange, Texas 10%
Hotel: The Colonnade Hotel: Boston, Mass. 2%
House of Worship: First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis: Minneapolis, Minn. 14%
Office: Scientific Instruments: West Palm Beach, Fla. 30%
K-12 School: Jackson Creek Middle School: Bloomington, Ind. 26%
Medical Office: North Suburban Medical Office Building: Thornton, Colo. 18%
Retail: Office Depot: Plano, Texas 17%
Warehouse: Norandex: Rochester, N.Y. 8%
Other: University of Central Florida's Garage C: Orlando, Fla. 31%

In the first six months of the competition alone, teams representing 245 buildings around the country have saved more than $3.7 million on utility bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equal to the electricity used by 2,300 homes annually. Competitors measure and track their building's monthly energy consumption using EPA's ENERGY STAR online energy tracking tool, Portfolio Manager. The building with the largest percentage reduction in energy use, adjusted for weather and the size of the building, will be recognized as the winner in November.

Visit www.energystar.gov/BattleoftheBuildings to learn more about the competitors, get real-time updates via a live Twitter feed, and join in on a Facebook forum to exchange ideas and strategies.

Important Policy Change for ENERGY STAR Certification

EPA is adopting a policy that will change the year associated with your ENERGY STAR certification.  Currently, the certification year is based on the 12-month period ending date listed on your Statement of Energy Performance (SEP).  However, for all label applications approved on or after January 1, 2012, the year of your certification will reflect the year during which your application for ENERGY STAR certification is approved, regardless of the SEP period ending date. The purpose of this change is to align the year of your certification with the calendar year in which it was approved.  This change will make it easier for you and EPA to communicate and celebrate your award with the public.  

Important Information for Those Who Have Not Yet Applied for 2011 Certification
If you received a 2010 certification with an SEP dated in the last four months of 2010, please take note: In order for you to earn a 2011 award, your application must be approved by December 31, 2011.  EPA will guarantee 2011 approval for all applications that are postmarked by November 15, 2011 or earlier and which require no additional questions or follow-up by EPA. Since, typically, your building might not have been eligible to apply by this deadline, EPA has manually reset your building's account to be eligible as of August 31, 2011.

Important Information for Everyone Eligible for ENERGY STAR Certification
In future years, to ensure that your building earns certification for the current year, you must postmark your application by November 15. As long as your application does not trigger any follow-up or additional questions, EPA will guarantee current-year approval, which means that your building will receive current-year certification.

Perspectives: Partner Highlight NHL Draft Spotlights an ENERGY STAR Hat Trick! This past June at the NHL Entry Draft, in front of thousands of screaming fans, NHL Green (the National Hockey League's sustainability initiative) took a major step to signal its commitment to environmentally responsible operations. At a ceremony attended by EPA officials, the League announced its partnership with EPA's ENERGY STAR and WasteWise programs — becoming the first professional sports league to do so.  Just as ENERGY STAR helps organizations to integrate strategic energy management into their core business practices, so too does WasteWise provide tools and resources to help organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste and select industrial wastes, thereby benefiting their bottom line and the environment. In collaboration with the host of the NHL Draft, Xcel Center, and the Minnesota Wild, the NHL has already embarked on numerous green initiatives, including offsetting 100 percent of electricity used during the 2011 Draft with the purchase of wind energy. The precedent for such an effort had already been set earlier in the hockey season, when the Wild purchased enough renewable energy to offset the energy consumed during a single game. By engaging with ENERGY STAR , the NHL has the opportunity to multiply these efforts by helping venues across the country to realize the potential for cost-effective energy savings. As the setting for these exciting announcements, Xcel Energy Center, also a new ENERGY STAR partner, has established itself as an environmental leader. In 2009, the venue kicked off a successful two-year strategy to reduce solid waste by 50%, while increasing the annual recycling rate to 50%. In April 2010, the Xcel Energy Center (joined by the Saint Paul River Centre and the Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium) continued this environmental commitment and set a goal to reduce their carbon footprint by 80 percent, and make the facilities 20 percent more efficient than average within three years time. By becoming ENERGY STAR partners, stadiums like the Xcel Center, teams like the Wild, and even leagues like NHL can benefit from EPA's proven no cost tools and resources for managing energy. Partners can also draw upon the well-known ENERGY STAR brand, and indeed even use the logo, to communicate their successes and enhance team spirit. Engagement with ENERGY STAR is not just an opportunity to measure, track, and improve energy performance, but also a chance to educate fans and the general public about the importance of energy efficiency as a core strategy for reducing carbon emissions and fighting global warming. For more information on the NHL's green activities, click here. And to learn more about ENERGY STAR for the entertainment sector, visit http://www.energystar.gov/entertainment. Perspectives: Statistics Did you know? If America's commercial and industrial buildings improved their energy use by just 10 percent, we could prevent the greenhouse gas emissions equal to all the automobiles in Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas combined!