ENERGY STAR Labeled Building Profile

First Union Center
200 East Broward Blvd.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
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First Union Center, a multi-tenant commercial, class "A" office building, is located in the middle of downtown Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Equity Office understands the unique needs of its customers and strives to meet these needs while managing energy consumption, but not sacrificing tenant comfort of their space.  Customers are concerned with operating their business economically and want their environments to be comfortable, while maintaining operating costs as low as possible.

Lighting

Equity Office is committed to the following energy efficient lighting program.  We have retrofitted 3 bulb T-12 fluorescent light fixtures to 3 bulb T-8 fixtures with electronic ballasts.  We have replaced incandescent lamps with 15 and 18 watt compact fluorescent bulbs throughout the building and in tenant improvement projects.  Additionally our parking garage is equipped with energy efficient metal halide.

Energy Management System

In addition to lighting retrofits, we have a Trane Tracer 100 Building Energy Management System.  This system allows us to control the base building, mechanical systems as well as lighting and overtime air conditioning controls.  The Building Automation System measures outside air and indoor air temperatures to calculate the optimal start and stop time of each air handing unit.  This is a energy efficient means of scheduling the central plant and support systems.  Our main chillers and air handlers will be controlled using chilled water and discharge air temperature reset based on the building cooling loads and weather requirements.

The building's mechanical are made up of one air handler per floor with direct digital controls and variable frequency drive units, which produces the most efficient form of fan modulation available for our air handlers.  These operating measures maximize energy efficiency and operational costs while simultaneously maintaining greater customer comfort.

Preventive Maintenance

We are also reducing energy costs by systematically maintaining the mechanical equipment with a computerized Preventive Maintenance Program.  This enables us to consistently meet the maintenance frequency levels for maximum efficiency of the equipment.  We invest time in training and development of our engineers to ensure consistent quality preventive maintenance measures along with the proper equipment control.

In addition, because of Equity Office's purchasing power, Florida Power Light in conjuction with Florida Public Service Commission offers rate reductions for Business Customers based on their energy usage over a 12 month period.

Education

Educating our customers and vendors is also an important piece of the energy efficiency puzzle.  We help to educate customers on practical energy efficiency (such as turning off lights as they exit their suites, closing blinds to reduce solar load).  We continually emphasize that our vendors need to reduce energy  consumption (i.e. landscaper watches for irrigation leaks and controller timing, janitorial employees shutting off lights after cleaning and our security staff performing lighting checks after customers leave the building.)

Equity Office strongly believes that the energy efficiency equation must have the involvement of industry professionals, vendors, utility companies, employees and customers to be successful. This collaboration is evident in our programs referenced above.

Communications:

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Testimonial:

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The narrative information in this profile has been provided by Equity Office Properties or a representative of this facility.

* Building owners and managers may periodically change. The owner/manager displayed reflects information known at the time the most recent label was earned.