Nearly 800 buildings in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia - including the nearly new Washington Convention Center and two professional sports stadiums in Baltimore - will be retrofitted to save at least 20 percent in energy use under a public-private partnership announced Tuesday.
The retrofits will be completed by the end of 2009 and are expected to save $36.5 million annually in energy costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 545 million pounds a year - the equivalent of taking 45,000 cars off the road, project officials said.
The scheduled renovations were announced Wednesday by two public-private partnerships that promote green building, the Energy Efficiency Partnership of Greater Washington and the Chesapeake Crescent. The energy savings will be accomplished in a variety of ways, including more efficient heating and cooling systems, windows or roofing.
Most, but not all, of the buildings are government owned.
George Vradenburg, vice chairman of Chesapeake Crescent, said governments frequently set long-range goals for reducing energy usage, but his organization prodded for more immediate commitments.
"A lot of times government will make commitments that fall on the next administration," Vradenburg said. "We wanted to demand a commitment now."
Virginia committed to retrofitting about 380 government buildings across the state. Maryland committed to retrofitting 200 buildings including some on the University of Maryland College Park campus and M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Vradenburg said.
The federal government, District government and the private sector are also a part of the partnership. Among the buildings promised for renovation are the Brookings Institution's Washington headquarters and a dozen buildings owned by the federal general Services Administration.
In all, the buildings committed to the retrofits total about 74 million square feet.
In the private sector, tenants are increasingly seeking green certifications as they shop for a lease.
Robert Braunohler, a vice president with real estate developer Louis Dreyfus, said his company landed a number of new tenants at its new building on New York Avenue in Northwest Washington, including BP and Google, who were only interested in leasing in green-certified buildings.
Tuesday's announcements come just six months after the formation of the Energy Efficiency Partnership of greater Washington, which began with a $500 million financing commitment in which building owners could borrow the money needed to make renovations and pay it back from the savings in their energy bills.
Laurel Colless, the partnership's executive director, said the initiative has grown faster than she imagined.
She said the partnership received more than 100 calls in the first two days after announcing its existence.
"I think we're reaching the point where there's really a stigma associated with being in a brown building" as opposed to a green one, Colless said.
In the D.C. area, many governments have announced plans requiring energy efficiency in new construction. In December 2006, the D.C. city council passed legislation requiring private developers to adhere to strict green-building standards in new office construction.
And on Tuesday, the Montgomery County (web|news) Council passed legislation that would make it the first county to require builders to meet federal energy efficiency standards for new homes.
But Vradenburg said real energy savings can only be achieved by retrofitting existing buildings, which are responsible for the vast majority of energy consumption.
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