The Citys Path Toward Sustainable Growth

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The Citys Path Toward Sustainable Growth

• City of Houston
• June 18, 2008

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Houston is doing very well
Annual population growth of 5.6 from
2004-2006 Annual GDP growth of 5.2 from
2004-2007 City added over a 100,000 new jobs in
2007 These are big growth numbers for the 4th
largest city in the country
How do we sustain this growth trajectory?
Our goal is to decouple energy consumption from
regional growth Mayor Bill White
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The time to act is now
Energy Consumption
The time to act is now Energy costs have doubled
over last several years and will continue to
rise 4 gas at the pump 0.15-0.16 /
kwh Todays actions will Create value and save
money Show environmental responsibility Increase
s momentum participation Whats holding us
back!
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What can we do
Lighting
HVAC
CHP
Controls
Green Building
Efficient motors
High
Cool Roofs
Solar
Windows
Kwh and cost savings
Low
With Rising Energy Costs wider array of solutions
make sense
Easy
Difficult
Implementation
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More Stringent Building Codes

• Comprehensive upgrade of the citys building
  codes to make Houston a leader in energy
  efficiency for new construction and major
  renovations.

• ASHRAE 90.1 2004 plus local amendments for
  commercial construction
• Latest standard with software compliance support
• Increased energy efficiency cool roofs,
  efficient lighting
• Approved by City Council code in effect August
  2008
• IECC 2006 plus local amendments for residential
  construction
• Target 15 increase in energy efficiency
  roll-out in 2008
• Enhancing Citys Code enforcement to support code
  transformation
• Summer workshops on new code increased staff and
  training
• Green building resource center to help educate
  builders and owners

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Green Building Program

• Why would anyone build a building that is going
  to last 30,50, 100 years and not make it energy
  efficient and green.

• Mayors Resolution, passed in June 2004,
  requiring all new City buildings and major
  renovation to be LEED certified (21 buildings,
  representing 1M sq ft LEED projects underway)
• Mayors Green Building Advisory Committee to
  showcase LEED buildings in private sector
• LEED Quick Start to expedite permitting
  graduated fee rebates with LEED certification
• Over 70 of the new Class A commercial office
  buildings (over 50K sq ft in size) designing for
  LEED classification (6 M sq ft committed), nearly
  half of the residential new homes built are
  Energy Star. We are second only to Los Angeles
  in number of Energy Star and LEED buildings.

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Energy Savings Performance Work

• Opportunity to significantly reduce energy
  consumption by 20-30 with no upfront capital by
  financing through utility savings

• City of Houston one of the first to contract
  large scale energy efficiency work
• 271 facilities, 11 million sq ft under
  consideration
• Siemens and TAC selected as ESCOs
• Building audits, energy efficiency work,
  measurement/verification
• Financing driven by lower utility bills available
  to remove up-front capital costs
• CenterPoint energy efficiency incentives
  available
• ESCos Energy Service Contractors in market and
  knowledgeable
• Opportunities Lighting, Control Systems, HVAC,
  high efficiency motors, transformers, cool roofs,
  windows, solar, many others.

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Embracing Renewable Power Sources

• Large Scale purchases of Renewable Power
  delivered to City of Houston facilities via long
  term contracts.

• COH has purchased 1.7 billion kwh of power from
  Texas Wind Farms, at a fixed price of 7.5 cents /
  kwh for the next 5 years. This will supply 25
  of our annual requirements for the next 5 years.
  This is one of the largest wholesale purchases of
  renewable power from either the public or private
  sector.
• With rising energy costs, this fixed price
  contract will save the taxpayer over 26 million
  for the next 5 years if energy prices stay where
  they are. If they continue to go up, the savings
  to the City will continue to increase.
• COH recently awarded DOE Solar America City grant
  to increase solar deployment across the region.
  Solar panels are up at City Hall Annex (6.6 KW
  system) and Code Enforcement building (6.6 KW
  system).

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Solar Opportunity in Houston

• Federal tax credits are available that expire
  end of 2008 to install solar at commercial
  buildings

• Tax credit for 30 of the installation costs of
  solar system. No cap for commercial. 2000 cap
  for residential.
• Accelerated depreciation allowed
• No increase in appraisal value
• CenterPoint incentives
• Renewable energy credits
• Advanced Meters CenterPoint has filed to roll
  out 250,000 meters in market driven deployment
  approach. Time of Use, Dynamic Pricing will
  enable true economics for solar. Peak pricing
  have reached as high as 3-4/kwh!

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Combined Heat and Power Solutions

• Implement CHP solutions at Citys waste water
  treatment plants to increase energy utilization
  reduce overall kwh consumption

• Feasibility study carried out by HARC for 69th
  Street Waste Water treatment plant showed 14 ROI
  with 7 year payback. Decision to focus effort at
  Almeda Sims which is in the process of major
  facility upgrade.
• Preliminary engineering development (including
  environmental permit analysis) kicked off at
  Almeda Sims Waste Water treatment plant for CHP
  solution. FY10 CIP includes a 10 million line
  item appropriations for project.

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Replacing Traffic Lights with LEDs

• Replacing traffic light signals at all 2400
  intersections within the city with energy
  efficient LEDs

• 400 intersections completed in 2007 (mostly in
  downtown district)
• Remaining 2000 intersections to be completed by
  mid 2009
• 90 reduction in electricity use by new traffic
  light LEDs
• Saves the City 10K/day or 3.6M a year in
  electricity costs
• Upgrading heads from 8 inch to 12 inch as part of
  process

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Fuel efficient, clean vehicles

• Lead the way for Houston to migrate to hybrid
  vehicles with dramatic increases in fuel
  efficiency and cleaner emissions.

• Citys goal to have 50 of non-emergency,
  administrative fleet (2800 vehicles) by 2010.
  Currently have 440 hybrids in our fleet (mostly
  Prius, some Ford Escapes).
• Metro is purchasing 100 hybrid buses a year
  through 2011 for a total of 449 hybrid buses.
  Currently 142 in fleet by end of 2008.
• Working with HAS and partners to migrate to clean
  fuel fleets at airport.
• Opportunities purchase small hybrids, use Metro,
  carpool, consolidate trips, use most fuel
  efficient vehicle, avoid high congestion times.

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Lights Out Houston

• Grass-roots initiative to make Houston the
  energy efficiency and conservation capital of the
  world

• Pledge by Houston property owners, managers, and
  tenants to turn off lights when office space not
  being used
• Wide spread enthusiasm and commitment. Concept
  went from idea to reality in 3 weeks.
• Over 104 million square feet of commercial office
  space committed to sustained reduction in the use
  of non-essential electricity.
• Led by property owners and tenants Crescent
  Real Estate, Hines, Brookfield Properties,
  Transwestern, Chevron, Exxon, Houston Astros,
  many more
• Initial estimates for savings 8.4M kwh per year,
  1M annual savings