Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Seattle City Hall: Meter is running fast
Seattle City Councilwoman Jean Godden should trust her instincts. The chairwoman of the council's Energy and Environmental Policy Committee should follow through aggressively on her concerns about electrical consumption at the new City Hall.
In terms of electrical usage, the city needs to find out if it got a lemon when it ordered lemonade. As a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story reported yesterday, the supposedly model building appears to consume electricity in surprisingly high amounts.
The worries ought to extend beyond Seattle. The indications of energy inefficiency should raise eyebrows about the effectiveness of certifying buildings as environmentally friendly.
The city's building was designed to meet the silver level of certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Certification is based on documentation about how the building measures on a host of standards, including use of local products, energy and water efficiency and use of natural sunlight.
The program doesn't require evidence comparing a new building's use of energy with one it replaced. Such comparisons wouldn't always be meaningful, especially since new buildings don't necessarily duplicate previous ones. But the initial data on City Hall's electrical use seems far enough out of line to demand scrutiny.
After hearing that electricity usage is considerably higher for fewer people at the new building than at the one it replaced, Godden said she would like Seattle City Light to audit for possible efficiencies. It's possible that the use of more computers, for instance, is bringing better service and overall efficiency. And the building seems to reduce water usage and trash disposal. But the city needs to check other possibilities, such as an excessive use of such comforts as individual office refrigerators or design features that detract from or cancel out other advantages.
There is much to like about the trend toward considering environmental factors in building construction and remodeling. The Legislature took smart action to make Washington a leader in promoting the practices in public buildings. That makes it all the more important to find out whether the results are as good as the theory.
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| How important is it for public buildings to be energy efficient? | |
 59.9%Very important |
32.9% Important |
| 5.1% Unimportant |
2.1% Doesn't matter or don't care |
| Total Votes: 292 | |