Last year, the Town began challenging staff members to treat their workplaces more like home and turn off lights and electronics when not in use through a campaign called “Turn it OFF, Add it up!” Also as part of the campaign, thermostats in Town buildings were raised a couple degrees in warm weather and lowered some in cool weather to save on heating and cooling system use.
The hope was the effort – part of the Town’s Project Green environmental initiative – would save both energy and money.
Those goals were met. By the end of 2009, the campaign had resulted in an electricity use savings of 7 percent over 2008 and a cost savings of 12 percent, or $62,000, during the same period. Natural gas use stayed about the same, but the cost decreased by nearly $4,000 from 2008 to 2009.
“The entire Town staff has done a great job supporting this important effort by turning off computers, lights and other appliances when they are not in use,” said Buddy Gregory, the Town’s facilities and risk manager. “These cost savings benefit every department budget.”
The cost savings was the greatest at the Castle Rock Recreation Center, where it neared $30,000. The variation in energy savings seen in different Town buildings was not a reflection of conservation efforts but an indication of where more work can be done to save energy, Gregory said.
“(The) Facilities (Division) will explore ways to make certain buildings more energy efficient, to increase energy and cost savings going forward,” he said.
Overall, the Town used 416,025 fewer kilowatt hours of energy in 2009 than in 2008. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, that is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of 39 homes for one year or to the greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 101 tons of waste instead of sending it to the landfill.