7/12/2011
Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced the launch of a multi-agency Guaranteed Energy Performance Contracting program that will increase energy efficiency in City buildings across Chicago, generate hundreds of jobs across the city and save Chicago taxpayers up to $5.7 million a year once retrofits are complete.
“By investing in energy efficiency across the city, we will spur job creation and use taxpayer funds more effectively,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, making the announcement at the monthly board meeting of the Public Buildings Commission of Chicago (PBC). “This is the kind of creative initiative that we’re interested in cultivating in Chicago, linking sustainable policies and economic growth.”
The City expects the first phase of this new program to:
- Save between $4 and $5.7 million annually in taxpayer dollars once the energy conservation measures are in place;
- Generate approximately $40 million worth of construction work across the city;
- Create more that 375 new direct jobs for Chicagoans and more than 1100 manufacturing and related jobs; and
- Bring the City closer to reaching the greenhouse gas emissions and reduction goals established by the Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP).
“I’m excited about the creation of this program,” said PBC Executive Director Erin Lavin Cabonargi. “This program is based upon success already achieved at the Richard J. Daley Center, where energy conservation measures and other retrofits save the taxpayers on average more than $600,000 a year.”
In a cooperative effort between the Public Building Commission of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools and the City of Chicago, nearly 100 buildings representing over 6.5 million square feet, are eligible to be retrofit under this program.
A Request for Qualifications and Proposals for Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) will be released on July 13, 2011. Once selected, the ESCOs will perform investment-grade audits of these government buildings located throughout Chicago to determine which will be retrofitted. The solicitation will be flexible to allow other agencies and buildings to be brought into the program in later phases.