On July 16, the city announced the winners of its Project Skyline Mayor’s Challenge Awards, in which five institutions were recognized for the operation of buildings that uphold the city’s standards for reduced energy consumption and improved air quality standards. The awards are one manifestation of a larger commitment by the city to reduce building energy consumption by 15 percent before 2020.
“Salt Lake City is committed to ensuring that our community is a vibrant, healthy and prosperous municipality,” Mayor Ralph Becker said in a press release. “To do this, we must address unhealthy air pollutants, and our buildings can play a significant role in doing so by reducing energy waste. I applaud the leading organizations being recognized — as well as the 20 participants in this first year of competition — for helping to lead the city in reducing energy use and pollution while working to save local taxpayers money and create quality local jobs.”
The winners of the challenge were Basic Research, Fidelity Investments, the McGillis School, Newmark Grubb ACRES and the Salt Lake School District. Winners were recognized in different categories, including the Energy Innovator Award, the Sustained Excellence Award, the Most-Improved Energy Star Score Award, the Energy Efficiency Leadership Award and the Benchmarking Champion Award. More information on the winners can be found at SLCgov.com.
The city encourages further progress in the arena of building energy consumption through the program by offering challenge participants access to educational and networking workshops, guidance on best practices, and resources for evaluating their building’s energy use.
Salt Lake City estimates that its buildings contribute almost 40 percent of local air pollution during the winter, and that one feasible target for energy efficiency could reduce annual air pollutant levels by 1 million pounds.
The city is partnered with the Institute of Market Transformation as part of the City Energy Project, a national campaign assisted by the National Resources Defense Council that seeks to improve building energy consumption in 10 U.S. cities.
