High-Performance Buildings
In response to ever-increasing energy costs, Milwaukee County is upgrading its buildings to reduce energy consumption and its carbon footprint. The County is performing energy audits on its larger buildings to identify the most cost-effective ways to implement energy savings measures, and entered into “guaranteed energy savings performance contracts” with local contractors to perform the retrofits. The building modifications completed in 2008 and 2009 are expected to result in estimated energy savings of $600,000 per year.
Green Design
Energy savings is not the only goal of sustainable design. Improving the environment we live and work in while lowering our impact on our natural resources is equally important. The United States Green Building Council has developed guidelines for sustainable design. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines have become the standard by which green buildings across the country are being measured. Future Milwaukee County construction projects are required to evaluate and implement when appropriate, sustainable design features that have been developed based on LEED.
A term used to describe the design and construction of sustainable and environmentally conscious buildings.
According to the U.S. Dept of Energy, commercial buildings consume over 40% of the energy used in the U.S. each year.
Milwaukee County owns and maintains over 400 buildings and spends nearly $20 million in utility bills
The LEED rating system
www.usgbc.org
Green building in Wisconsin
www.wgba.org
Green building materials
www.greenseal.org
Construction waste management
www.wastecapwi.org
Green roofs
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