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U.S. Bancorp Tower takes control of energy use
Jul 13 2009
Most of us were taught to turn off the lights when we left a room. But when you’re managing 1.1 million square feet of Class A office space, and dozens of tenants with hundreds of employees, turning off the lights at the end of the day is no simple task. To solve this problem, the 42-story U.S. Bancorp Tower and Plaza, a distinctive landmark on the Portland, Ore., skyline, is mid-way through a complete lighting control upgrade to automatically turn off all non-emergency lights after hours.
Unico Properties LLC, building property managers, has been making significant investments in the building’s energy efficiency since 2004. The controls upgrade is the final piece of a comprehensive plan to automate building systems and obtain energy savings. According to Ty Barker, senior property manager, U.S. Bancorp Tower will produce more energy savings with this type of systemic change than it will by attempting to change human behavior.
Christensen Electric, located in Portland, is installing the automatic energy control component to work with the Siemens Building Automation System (BAS). All lighting circuits are now routed through a new lighting control panel on each floor. Each panel contains a processor that can be programmed to maximize energy savings by matching the lighting hours of operation to each floor’s schedule. Once the new system is put to work, anticipated energy savings are expected to be approximately 1.1 million kWh per year, with savings on the tower’s utility bill of more than $80,000 per year. Incentives and tax credits will pay for nearly half the installation cost of $330,000.
“The incentives make it easy for our owners to make environmentally responsible investments to improve the building,” said Barker. “The controls upgrade helps us save energy, lower the operating cost of the building by reducing energy costs and deposit less carbon into the atmosphere.
The U.S. Bancorp Tower is ENERGY STAR certified and recently earned a Silver certification from the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings rating system.
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