Damuth Trane Earns EPA's ENERGY STAR Certification

For Immediate Release: (August 31, 2011) Damuth Trane announced it has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR® Certification for their main office building located inChesapeake,VA. This achievement signifies that the building performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA. ENERGY STAR® Certification for commercial buildings is a program to help companies save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices. Clint Damuth, President of Damuth Trane, commented regarding the importance of Energy Star® certification: “We’re pleased to achieve such an award. Damuth Trane strives to demonstrate environmental stewardship. The Energy Star® label for our facility is just one way we continually measure our progress. As a property owner that is also sensitive to building operating costs, it’s good to know that our efforts will result in a positive economic impact to our bottom line.” Commercial buildings that earn EPA’s ENERGY STAR® certification use an average of 35 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Damuth Trane has improved its energy performance by making and managing cost-effective improvements to its building. In February 2010, Damuth Trane used ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager to benchmark the facility and compare its energy use against similar buildings. This benchmark resulted in an Energy Performance Rating that was above 50 (which is the median score), but identified there was still room for improvement. Damuth chose to perform a retro-commissioning (RCx) project, which was completed in July 2010. Operational and maintenance improvements were implemented on mechanical equipment, lighting, DDC controls and energy management software. After one year of operation, the results speak for themselves: a 13% reduction in electrical consumption as compared to the prior two years. Retro-Commissioning is a cost effective way to implement energy conservation measures (ECM’s) often with simple paybacks of less than three years. Roger Shull, Director of Energy Business Development with Damuth commented: “We occupied our facility in the spring of 1998. Since then we’ve had multiple build-outs and floor plan changes. We thought we had a fairly efficient facility. Benchmarking using Portfolio Manager helped us recognize that we could make improvements. The end result was a more efficient facility that is now ranked in the top 15% of our commercial building peer group. We plan to benchmark our facility every 6-9 months so we don’t fall off our “energy diet”.” For more information about ENERGY STAR® Certification for Commercial Buildings visit: www.energystar.gov/labeledbuildings or www.energystar.gov/benchmark