City Uses Federal Stimulus Funding to Retrofits Buildings, Create Jobs & More Sustainable City

9/22/11—Mayor Edwin M. Lee joined by U.S. Department of Energy today announced that the City has completed energy efficiency retrofits in ten municipal buildings from funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and highlighted the environmental benefits and job-creating aspects of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) energy efficiency retrofit program.

“The SFPUC’s municipal energy efficiency retrofit program was well-timed to help stimulate our local economy with jobs that put San Franciscans back to work and furthers our City’s environmental goals to reduce green house gas emissions,” said Mayor Lee. “Besides creating jobs and greening our City, the federal stimulus funding for energy efficiency retrofits is helping the City’s fiscal bottom-line through lower utility costs and revitalizing our neighborhoods throughout the City.”

“Recovery Act projects across the nation have created jobs on the main streets of local communities through innovative investments in energy efficiency,” said U.S. Department of Energy Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Henry Kelly. “Local municipalities, like San Francisco, are utilizing this program to save money, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.”

In 2009, the SFPUC secured $7.7 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funding from the US Department of Energy as part of the ARRA. The SFPUC leveraged $3 million of those funds to pay for the vast majority of these retrofits. The ten retrofitted buildings include the Chinatown Public Health Center, Southeast Health Center, Ocean Park Health Center, African American Art & Culture Complex, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, SOMArts Cultural Center, Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, Women’s Reentry Center and County Jails #1&2 and #6. These projects were selected as part of the 10 Year Capital Plan to address energy efficiency needs at key buildings that serve the City’s diverse community.

In total, the retrofit projects logged over 12,000 labor hours for 76 Bay Area construction workers. With the efficiency retrofits completed, the program is expected to save 1,200,000 kWh of electricity per year and 90,000 therms of natural gas annually. This will decrease utility costs by over $200,000 each year and promote better environmental stewardship for the City’s municipal facilities. These projects also provided a cost-effective way for the City to replace equipment that had reached the end of its useful life.

As part of the efficiency upgrades at many of the buildings, the SFPUC installed compact fluorescent lights, updated the fluorescent lamps and ballasts, replaced antiquated boilers with modern, ultra-efficient versions, installed occupancy sensors and updated outside air economizers (the mechanism by which the facility takes advantage of San Francisco’s naturally cool weather for air conditioning). In order to maximize the effectiveness of the federal stimulus dollars, each municipal facility underwent a rigorous energy efficiency audit prior to construction to inform the custom-designed efficiency plans for each building.

“As the power provider for the Mission Cultural Center and all of the City’s municipal facilities, we would not be prudent environmental stewards if we did not assist our customers with energy efficiency retrofits and upgrades,” said SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington. “These energy efficiency retrofits and upgrades would not have been possible without the support of these federal stimulus dollars.”