BUILDING DESIGN
Buildings account for 40% of the nation’s total energy consumption. Waukesha County builds, owns and operates a wide variety of buildings and facilities including offices, jails, park shelters, maintenance buildings, and an airport. A “green” or sustainable building is one designed, built, renovated, operated or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Such buildings enhance occupant health, boost productivity, use energy, water and other resources more efficiently and reduce their overall impact on the environment.
The most advanced and well-known green benchmarks that have been developed for building design, construction and facility management, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System (LEED), was established by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1999. We will strive to meet these benchmarks in selected building projects and existing buildings.
Objective: Introduce LEED Design Concepts
Introduce Sustainable energy saving and LEED “Green” design concepts in programming, design and construction of County building projects over the next three years. For more information, visit U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Rating System.
FACILITY MANAGEMENT/BUILDING OPERATIONS
Facility Management practices can improve building performance by reducing the negative impact of buildings on occupants and on the environment. Creating healthier buildings results in:
- A work environment where there is improved indoor air quality, employee morale and productivity as well as reduced absenteeism;
- A building with an increased asset value that is less costly to operate; and
- Conservation of natural resources such as natural gas, oil, coal and water.
Objective: Implement LEED-EB Policies for Waukesha County Buildings
Develop and implement practices, policies and procedures that improve existing building performance and pursue LEED-EB certification.
Performance Measure
Pursue a LEED-EB certification for a selected Waukesha County facility.
Objective: Retro-commission County Facilities
The purpose of retro-commissioning facilities is to achieve gas, electric demand and energy savings. Savings are realized through the systematic evaluation of facility systems and implementation of cost-effective measures to improve facility operations.
Performance Measure
In a selected group of buildings, reduce combined electric and natural gas consumption by 10% or qualify for Energy Star certification by 2010.
Objective: Reduce Electrical Consumption
There are many ways to reduce electrical consumption in our facilities and they range from individuals simply turning off the lights and computers when not needed to the upgrades of physical equipment with complicated control sequences. In this section, we will focus on control and equipment upgrades including developing the ability to collect data from building subsystems through sub-metering.
Performance Measure
In a selected group of buildings, reduce combined electric and natural gas consumption by 10% or qualify for Energy Star certification by 2010.
Objective: Reduce Natural Gas Consumption
The natural gas and oil markets have seen dramatic increases in the past few years. Coupled with a volatile energy market, budgeting for gas and oil is difficult and has the potential for huge negative consequences for the County. To help mitigate this uncertainty, we should take proactive steps to reduce our consumption of natural gas and oil.
Performance Measure
In a selected group of buildings, reduce combined electric and natural gas consumption by 10% or qualify for Energy Star certification by 2010.
Objective: Reduce Water Consumption
Reduce the use of water resources in county facilities.
Performance Measure
Demonstrate a 5 to 10% reduction in aggregate annual water consumption by 2010.
