All News Releases By Date

 

EPA AWARDS CLEAN AIR ACT GRANT TO ENHANCE ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN EL PASO AREA BUILDINGS

Release Date: 07/17/2001
Contact Information:



Environmental News

As part of its efforts to promote energy efficiency and to support the National Energy Policy Report, EPA’s Region 6 will award a Clean Air Act Section 103 grant for $40,000 to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The Energy Center of the Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM/EC) at the University will recruit building owners in the El Paso region to participate in EPA’s building energy program to save money, energy, and prevent pollution.

The goals of this project are: to expose a wide variety of area building owners in all sectors to EPA’s Energy Star Benchmarking Tool (ESBT); to reduce pollution in the El Paso airshed; to promote an understanding of how energy use and pollution are related; to train student engineers in energy efficient applications for buildings; and to develop a capacity to deliver energy audits and build infrastructure to support El Paso area businesses, schools and government agencies in improving energy efficiency.

“This is an efficient way for building owners to compare their buildings with those throughout the nation that are already saving both money and energy. And, it is an excellent teaching tool for students,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. “The end result is that we all benefit.”

The Energy Star Benchmarking Tool can be accessed on the web. A building owner can type in building size and other vital statistics and include his last year’s energy bill. The ESBT will rank the building on a scale of 0-100. If the building ranks more than 75, it qualifies for an Energy Star Award. Building owners also can determine how their building(s) compare to similar ones in their region. ESBT has the potential to stimulate interest in energy efficiency and provide management with critical information to allow building owners to make decisions. The ESBT program will recognize energy efficient facilities by giving them national recognition and a brass plaque to display locally.

For those buildings that receive low ratings on the ESBT web site, energy audit teams can help the building owner determine steps that can be taken to improve the score. Such steps include checking insulation, looking at lighting and plug load, and often determining that oversized air-conditioning systems have not only cost more money but have produced inefficiency. The University will cooperate by leading student-based energy audit teams in looking at thirty buildings with the assistance of staff and under the supervision of Mechanical Engineering faculty. They will then provide a complete report for each facility audited as well as an estimate of the reductions of electricity use for each mitigation measure.

For more information about the Energy Star program, visit EPA’s website at http://www.energystar.gov/


R-111 ###