by Brianna Crandall — October 8, 2012—The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA), and the Green Parking Council have joined together to launch the Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign this week to encourage commercial building owners and managers and parking garage/lot owners and managers to save energy and money by using high-efficiency lighting technology in parking lots and structures. The Department of Energy (DOE) is the campaign’s technical advisor.
Participating building owners and managers agree to evaluate their portfolio to identify potential parking lots or parking structures that can apply high-efficiency lighting technology, and to use high-efficiency lighting where feasible and cost-effective. Both retrofit and new construction projects are eligible to participate in the campaign. Existing sites that have been built or retrofitted with high-efficiency technology are also eligible to participate in the campaign, if they were built or retrofitted after January 2010.
LEEP’s goal is to have 100 million square feet of parking structure or lot space to use roughly one-third less energy than ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. Based on estimates, these energy savings equal more than 51 million kilowatt-hours, which is reportedly equal to the annual electricity use of almost 4,500 homes or the annual greenhouse gas emissions from almost 7,000 passenger vehicles.
“Tremendous progress has been made in recent years on the quality and cost-effectiveness of LED lighting and other technologies,” remarked BOMA International Chair Joseph W. Markling, managing director of Strategic Accounts at CBRE. “There has never been a better time to retrofit parking lots and structures, as state-of-the-art lighting technologies can last two-to-five times longer than traditional outdoor lights. Additionally, these systems pay for themselves quickly by cutting energy costs by up to 70 percent and maintenance costs by up to 90 percent.”
The LEEP Campaign Web site gives interested organizations information on technical and financial assistance, as well as case studies, rebates and incentives. Organizations that join LEEP will be recognized on the campaign Web site for their participation. Projects with notable energy savings will receive awards from the LEEP campaign and will be profiled on the site. The deadline for submitting project information is November 30, 2013, and results and awards will be announced in February 2014.
LEEP’s supporting partners include the Commercial Buildings Consortium; the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub; regional efficiency organizations, such as the South-Central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource; and electric utilities, such as San Diego Gas and Electric. These supporters are reportedly committed to promoting the campaign to their members and service areas. BOMA encourages other organizations to sign up as supporters and help spread the word about the LEEP campaign opportunity with others.
