Michigan Battle of the Buildings announces City of East Jordan as 2021 Biggest Loser at 2022 Michigan Energy Summit
Michigan Battle of the Buildings announces City of East Jordan’s Lagoon Pump House as a 2021 Biggest Loser with a 71.21% reduction in electrical use.
Over fifteen-hundred buildings state-wide competed against each other in 2021 in this biggest loser-styled energy competition. The competitors worked to reduce their energy in various ways; from switching from fluorescents to LEDs, changing their office habits or upgrading to a high efficiency furnace. There are 11 categories in which the buildings all compete based on building type.
The City of East Jordan was awarded as a 2021 biggest loser at the 8th Annual Michigan Energy Summit on June 15, 2022. The full day event was held at the LEED-certified City Flats Hotel and included breakout sessions, walking tours, and exhibitors of some of the city’s leading energy professionals.
The lagoon pump house controls the water level in the city’s walleye rearing pond and also sends water from the biosolids retention pond back to the treatment plant. The wastewater operators were able to cut $2600 a year from the electric bill by changing the process in which the building was winterized during the off season. There was no cost to implement this change so the return on investment was immediate.
According to Kate Mowbray, wastewater plant operator for the city, the treatment plant’s mission is to lessen the impact that sewage has on the environment by operating as efficiently as possible without impacting the treatment process. “With rising costs, energy efficiency is something you can have control over in an otherwise uncontrollable world. You don’t always have to spend money to be more efficient. Sometimes it just takes looking at your current operation in a different way.”
About Michigan Battle of the Buildings
Michigan Battle of the Buildings has been a program of the U.S. Green Building Council of West Michigan since 2014. It is the only statewide biggest-loser styled energy competition in the country. In 2021, the competitors $33.5 million in energy costs, putting that money back into their businesses and the local economy. For more information on the program, please visit https://michiganbattleofthebuildings.org/
Original source can be found here.
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