by Brianna Crandall — November 1, 2010—The Scarborough, Maine office of Siemens Industry, Inc.’s Building Technologies Division recently earned an Energy Star label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a result of its local employees’ personal efforts to reduce energy consumption and optimize building systems at the facility.
According to the EPA, the Energy Star energy performance scale helps organizations assess the energy efficiency of their facilities relative to similar buildings. Commercial buildings scoring 75 or higher on EPA’s 1 to 100 scale are considered efficient enough to achieve the designation. Siemens’ Scarborough office, which supports some 60 professional and technical employees, scored a 77 and now uses approximately 30 percent less energy than office buildings of similar size, says the company.
To earn the label, Siemens implemented a variety of facilities improvements and other measures. For example, Siemens energy engineers integrated occupancy sensors, originally implemented for lighting efficiency, with the facility’s Siemens APOGEE Building Automation System to control HVAC system airflows when spaces are unoccupied. Similarly, the occupancy sensors and lighting system retrofits also contributed, reducing energy consumption by approximately 18 percent.
Darcie Confar of the Building Technologies New England Division said that the company’s sustainability program calls for achieving the Energy Star for all offices in the region. “Winning the Energy Star label demonstrates that, just as we are helping our customers across New England reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprints, we are addressing energy conservation in our own facilities as well.”
