20 million square feet and counting — November Challenge Update

On our way to 30M square feet - 20 million square feet and counting
Congratulations to our newest Building Partner Jamison Services for enrolling! We are at 20M square feet and well on our way towards our 30M square foot goal by 2020! Read More

ATTENTION WILSHIRE CENTER/KOREATOWN BUILDING OWNERS/MANAGERS SIGN UP FOR A FREE BUILDING ENERGY AUDIT – Unfortunately, the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Program is fully subscribed.  However, the new LA Commercial Building Performance Program has started as of August 1st, 2011 and you should be able to participate in that.

The first part of this Green Building Retrofit Program is to do energy and water audits for all 1100 buildings within the WCBID and the Wilshire Center/Koreatown WC/K CRA project area over the next 10 years; this part has already begun.  The goal is 30% energy savings by 2025.  Improvements would consist of conservation measures, green building solutions, and renewables with some of these actions running concurrently with energy savings.   The formula that we are using is Efficiency + Conservation + Green Solutions +Renewables = Net Zero Energy.

These free energy assessments will provide a preliminary analysis of your building’s current energy usage as well as information on equipment/operational upgrades to reduce your energy bills. The highlighted upgrades will be chosen specifically for your building’s needs, and the reports will show how quickly an investment in these upgrades will “pay back” in energy savings. Later, potential financing and rebate opportunities will be presented to each building owner.

Read article from the Korea Daily (part 1 & part 2) on this Program.

Save Money and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The WCBID & CRA/LA want to save you money, while reducing your carbon footprint.  The WCBID & CRA/LA is working building owners across our community to achieve unprecedented levels of energy savings and to expand clean energy sources. 

The offer is:

•Energy audits for your buildings

•Up to 30% reductions in energy bills

•It is possible to do energy efficiency upgrades with no up front cash required

Not ready to sign up yet? Curious about what’s involved in reducing your energy costs and district-wide environmental impact? To learn more about being a part of this ground-breaking effort go to http://www.lacommercialbpp.com/.

Financial Incentive Summary:

Discover all of the current incentives and rebates available to building owners undertaking energy improvements.

The City of Los Angeles is in the process of developing a financing option the will reduce the amount of upfront cost of energy efficiency and renewable energy related projects. The program aims to leverage the assemble bill, AB 811. This will allow commercial building owner’s to payback the upfront loan through a property tax assessment on the property tax bill.

As a part of federal stimulus acts, a program permitting tax deductions of up to $1.80 per square foot for the installation of efficient systems in new and renovated commercial buildings has been through 2013. Many rebates are also available from LADWP and Gas Co. for improvements to efficiency.

Audit Benefits:

How can the Cool District program help you?

•Save money with cost effective measures tailored to your building

•Use less energy

•Catch up on deferred maintenance and increase reliability of systems

•Improve comfort and productivity of staff and tenants

•Make your mark as a business that cares about the environment

•Be recognized as a leader in your community

How does your company benefit from participating in the Cool District program?

Cool District provides one-stop convenience for comprehensive energy efficiency and clean energy technology services. Working with our consultant, ARUP, we identify ways to make your building more energy efficient and save money on your energy bills, while taking full advantage of all available government and utility incentives.

Cool District helps you save energy by upgrading to high efficiency lighting and exploring other cost saving measures such as replacing appliances and heating/cooling equipment; cutting heat loss; conserving water; and the installation of renewable or other clean energy technologies. We work with landlords to find fair, practical ways to share the costs and the benefits of investing in energy efficiency improvements.

Additional information:

There are many approaches to energy reduction and opportunities which vary widely among buildings. For this reason, the first step in any situation is a scoping exercise or preliminary energy assessment in order to have a better understanding of how to develop an appropriate energy strategy.  Based on this Scoping Energy Audit conducted by Arup, we identified both operational improvements and more capital intensive asset improvements. Since this is a Scoping Audit, the savings identified through this process are very preliminary and require further investigation to determine more specific savings opportunities and the scope of work required for each. Additionally, other opportunities may be identified through a more detailed audit. Incentives and other financing opportunities will also require additional work.

The overall goal and approach to the building energy auditing portion of the program is to incentivize building owner’s to initiate and eventually implement energy savings opportunities at their facilities within the community. This incentive is provide through shifting the risk of uncertainty in energy savings during the energy auditing process. The Cool District Program provides this incentive through capturing local and federal funds in which they enlist technical support through local energy auditing specialist to initially provide these services free of charge, to the building owners within the community. Also, value and risk management approaches to energy auditing through a phased risk-reward-commitment process helps ensure a high value process.  At each level in the process, an appropriate level of technical expertise and energy savings confidence levels are identified to ensure the highest value is obtained throughout the process.

Building Solutions (http://www.wilshirecenter.com/cooldistrict/building.htm)

A good article on the value of energy efficiency

WCBID Building Owners/Managers' Saving Money Ideas

Click here on How to Green Your Building and Save.

Top 10 Ways for Commercial Buildings to Save Energy and Save Money