Energy Spotlight Central Library - Arlingtonva
Energy Spotlight Central Library
FAST FACT Central Library’s solar panels produce enough power to meet the electricity needs of eight homes for a year!
ABOUT AIRE The Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE) helps our community make smart decisions about energy and supports individual actions to sustain and improve Arlington’s quality of life. We are committed to energy practices that will make Arlington a more prosperous, healthful, and secure place to live, work, and play.
THE BUILDING Arlington County Central Library, the main library in the County system, was built in 1961 and expanded in 1994. It is a multi-storied, 131,100-square-foot building that is open more than 80 hours per week. The building uses energy for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plus lighting, water heating, a busy public computer center, office equipment, and an auditorium for library and community events.
ELECTRICITY USE AT CENTRAL LIBRARY, SELECTED YEARS 3,000,000
By working together, we can ensure the health of our community for the long term. Come join us!
Visit us online at
www.freshAIREva.us
2,500,000
Use, kWh
AIRE began in 2007 with an ambitious goal to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from County government operations by improving energy efficiency in our buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure, and by using clean fuels and green power. We also educate and encourage Arlington residents and businesses to use energy wisely, inspiring daily actions that will make a lasting difference.
2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000
2000
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Calendar Year
OUR ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS In 2000, Central Library used 2,769,440 kWh of electricity. This energy use carries a heavy environmental burden, equating to more than 1,500 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (mtCO2e). The County’s energy management program began in earnest in 2001, when we made a series of adjustments to the building automation system and some lighting upgrades. Once the County launched the AIRE program in 2007, the energy management team returned to Central Library to make more improvements. We retrofitted all fluorescent fixtures from T12 lamps with magnetic ballasts to more efficient T8 lamps with electronic ballasts, replaced high-wattage indirect pendant fixtures with T8 fluorescent pendant fixtures, and replaced all incandescent lamps with
The County has saved more than $100,000 a year in electric costs as a result of improvements at Central Library.
EVERYDAY TIPS Get an energy audit. No matter what size or style building you live or work in, understanding how you use energy equips you to make better decisions about efficiency investments that yield the most return for your wallet, your comfort, and the environment. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Consider purchasing goods made from durable, recycled, toxin-free materials with minimal packaging. Reuse, repurpose, donate, or sell unwanted items. Recycle packaging. You’ll minimize materials processing, save energy, and prevent toxic materials from getting back into our environment. Travel smart. Rethink how you get to work and around town. Traveling around Arlington is easy using the network of bike and walk paths, buses, Metrorail, and car-sharing. Consider green power. Homeowners, businesses, and organizations can choose to buy power from renewable sources such as wind and solar to reduce their carbon footprint and stimulate the market for renewable energy.
Visit us online at
www.freshAIREva.us Building Energy Report Cards To find out more about the energy consumption of this and other buildings in Arlington, check out the Building Energy Report Cards on the AIRE website.
Glossary of Terms Visit the AIRE website to learn more about key terms related to energy use and the equipment in our buildings. Have a Question? Email AIRE at
[email protected].
either compact fluorescent or LED lights. We also upgraded auditorium lighting to dimmable LED downlights. In 2011, the County used a federal grant to install a 60-kWDC solar power system on the roof of the library. This solar system produces about 5 percent of the annual electricity needs of the building and decreases the peak energy demand by 15 percent. This has led to demand charge savings on the electric bill. Central Library is now getting a new chiller. The high-efficiency, variable-speed modular chiller will recover excess heat to provide domestic hot water. The project is underway, and Central Library will see savings from the project in 2013.
VALUE TO THE COUNTY These improvements are saving the County more than $100,000 a year in electric costs and will deliver even greater savings in 2013 from the new chillers in operation. With a cost of $390,000 for the lighting and solar panels, total payback will take less than four years—and because the solar panels were completely funded through a grant, these projects have more than recovered their cost to the County. The improvements also have reduced the building’s emissions by nearly one-third since 2000. That is the equivalent of taking 85 cars off the road or providing electricity for 61 homes for a year!
HOW DO WE RATE? When we benchmarked this building against a nationwide sample of libraries, we found that in 2012 Central Library used 29 percent less energy than comparable library buildings.
FOLLOW OUR LEAD Many commercial buildings in Arlington still have older lighting like the T12 lamps we retrofitted at Central Library. Lighting retrofits and upgrades can pay for themselves quickly, and there are more and more state and federal incentives to help pay for energy improvements. T12 lights are also being phased out of production, so it will soon be difficult to buy replacement bulbs. Visit the AIRE website for more information about current incentives for energy improvements.
FAST FACT Central Library’s solar panels produce enough power to meet the electricity needs of eight homes for a year!
ABOUT AIRE The Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE) helps our community make smart decisions about energy and supports individual actions to sustain and improve Arlington’s quality of life. We are committed to energy practices that will make Arlington a more prosperous, healthful, and secure place to live, work, and play.
THE BUILDING Arlington County Central Library, the main library in the County system, was built in 1961 and expanded in 1994. It is a multi-storied, 131,100-square-foot building that is open more than 80 hours per week. The building uses energy for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), plus lighting, water heating, a busy public computer center, office equipment, and an auditorium for library and community events.
ELECTRICITY USE AT CENTRAL LIBRARY, SELECTED YEARS 3,000,000
By working together, we can ensure the health of our community for the long term. Come join us!
Visit us online at
www.freshAIREva.us
2,500,000
Use, kWh
AIRE began in 2007 with an ambitious goal to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from County government operations by improving energy efficiency in our buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure, and by using clean fuels and green power. We also educate and encourage Arlington residents and businesses to use energy wisely, inspiring daily actions that will make a lasting difference.
2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000
2000
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Calendar Year
OUR ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS In 2000, Central Library used 2,769,440 kWh of electricity. This energy use carries a heavy environmental burden, equating to more than 1,500 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (mtCO2e). The County’s energy management program began in earnest in 2001, when we made a series of adjustments to the building automation system and some lighting upgrades. Once the County launched the AIRE program in 2007, the energy management team returned to Central Library to make more improvements. We retrofitted all fluorescent fixtures from T12 lamps with magnetic ballasts to more efficient T8 lamps with electronic ballasts, replaced high-wattage indirect pendant fixtures with T8 fluorescent pendant fixtures, and replaced all incandescent lamps with
The County has saved more than $100,000 a year in electric costs as a result of improvements at Central Library.
EVERYDAY TIPS Get an energy audit. No matter what size or style building you live or work in, understanding how you use energy equips you to make better decisions about efficiency investments that yield the most return for your wallet, your comfort, and the environment. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Consider purchasing goods made from durable, recycled, toxin-free materials with minimal packaging. Reuse, repurpose, donate, or sell unwanted items. Recycle packaging. You’ll minimize materials processing, save energy, and prevent toxic materials from getting back into our environment. Travel smart. Rethink how you get to work and around town. Traveling around Arlington is easy using the network of bike and walk paths, buses, Metrorail, and car-sharing. Consider green power. Homeowners, businesses, and organizations can choose to buy power from renewable sources such as wind and solar to reduce their carbon footprint and stimulate the market for renewable energy.
Visit us online at
www.freshAIREva.us Building Energy Report Cards To find out more about the energy consumption of this and other buildings in Arlington, check out the Building Energy Report Cards on the AIRE website.
Glossary of Terms Visit the AIRE website to learn more about key terms related to energy use and the equipment in our buildings. Have a Question? Email AIRE at
[email protected].
either compact fluorescent or LED lights. We also upgraded auditorium lighting to dimmable LED downlights. In 2011, the County used a federal grant to install a 60-kWDC solar power system on the roof of the library. This solar system produces about 5 percent of the annual electricity needs of the building and decreases the peak energy demand by 15 percent. This has led to demand charge savings on the electric bill. Central Library is now getting a new chiller. The high-efficiency, variable-speed modular chiller will recover excess heat to provide domestic hot water. The project is underway, and Central Library will see savings from the project in 2013.
VALUE TO THE COUNTY These improvements are saving the County more than $100,000 a year in electric costs and will deliver even greater savings in 2013 from the new chillers in operation. With a cost of $390,000 for the lighting and solar panels, total payback will take less than four years—and because the solar panels were completely funded through a grant, these projects have more than recovered their cost to the County. The improvements also have reduced the building’s emissions by nearly one-third since 2000. That is the equivalent of taking 85 cars off the road or providing electricity for 61 homes for a year!
HOW DO WE RATE? When we benchmarked this building against a nationwide sample of libraries, we found that in 2012 Central Library used 29 percent less energy than comparable library buildings.
FOLLOW OUR LEAD Many commercial buildings in Arlington still have older lighting like the T12 lamps we retrofitted at Central Library. Lighting retrofits and upgrades can pay for themselves quickly, and there are more and more state and federal incentives to help pay for energy improvements. T12 lights are also being phased out of production, so it will soon be difficult to buy replacement bulbs. Visit the AIRE website for more information about current incentives for energy improvements.
