GSA, PG&E inaugurate unprecedented energy efficiency project in San Francisco

Business Wire, May 14, 1996

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 1996--A transformation is taking place at the Phillip Burton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Francisco to make it the most energy efficient federal building in the nation.

The General Services Administration has initiated a project with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and experts from the public and private sector to retrofit the largest federal facility in the West with leading-edge technology.

It is the most extensive energy efficient demonstration project ever conducted in an office environment, and is expected to reduce energy costs in the 1.45-million-square-foot building by more than 25%.

The completion of the first phase of the 450 Golden Gate Project is being celebrated May 14.

Kenn Kojima, regional administrator of the GSA, said, "This test bed demonstration is a testament to what a public-private partnership can achieve. It will shape the way federal agencies design, build, retrofit and manage federal buildings for years to come."

Tony Harris, PG&E vice president, marketing and sales, said, "We applaud the GSA for its foresight in bringing together this partnership to create a showcase of energy efficiency technology. The measures being installed in this building will provide critical information on real-life energy usage and operations."

The initial phase is a comprehensive demonstration of the latest in lighting controls strategies.

Three floors occupied by the GSA have been furnished with advanced lighting equipment from nine different manufacturers (Advance Transformer, Lutron, Motorola Lighting, Novitas, Philips Lighting, PLC Multipoint, Thomas Lighting, Unenco and Watt Stopper) to demonstrate operational advantages, cost savings and energy conservation.

The project will provide a basis for designing and specifying advanced lighting control systems in GSA facilities nationwide.

At the center of the project is phase two, the installation of an Energy Management System (EMS) that will automate much of the building functions. This will be the first large-scale evaluation of BACnet, a unique communications tool that can coordinate the operations of lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, even if they are made by different manufacturers.

This advanced technology allows different control systems to "talk" to each other, much like networked computers. It is expected to serve as a prototype for future automated building systems.

The third stage is to retrofit the cooling and heating systems to create the most energy efficient, cost-effective system possible. The systems will be integrated into the BACnet communications system.

The 450 Golden Gate Project is strengthened by the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which will help analyze data from the project.

Other partners include the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Energy Simulation Specialists Inc., and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

All construction of the three phases of the demonstration are expected to be completed by 1997.

The GSA is the contracting and building management arm of the federal government, owning and managing approximately 1,775 facilities nationwide.

PG&E is the nation's largest investor-owned electric and gas utility, serving nearly 13 million people in Northern and Central California.

CONTACT: Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Renee Parnell, 415/973-6072

Mary Rodrigues, 415/973-1007

or

GSA

Terry Pierce, 415/522-3370