EPA praises San Diego County, Philadelphia
San Diego County — The county joins the city of Philadelphia as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Lights Government Partners of the Year in recognition of their efforts to save energy through lighting upgrades.
San Diego County is saving its taxpayers more than $800,000 a year through energy-efficient lighting upgrades that are also helping keep Southern California’s air cleaner. The county has upgraded nearly five million square feet of facility space to energy-efficient lighting in less than two years. The project was funded through a partnership — put together by EPA — between the county and San Diego Gas & Electric. The Association of Professional Energy Managers has also named the county its “Energy Manager of the Year.”
Philadelphia has upgraded two million square feet in two years, saving the city more than $240,000. Another two million square feet will be upgraded this year.
The city also sponsored a fluorescent lamp recycling and disposal program and educated the public at two separate utility fairs about the Green Lights program and methods of reducing energy costs.
The Green Lights program has more than 2,200 participants, including more than 90 local governments. Since the program’s 1991 inception, participants have cut $248 million annually from their energy bills, experienced an average 46 percent rate of return on their investment in energy-efficient lighting and reduced air pollution by nearly 4.5 billion pounds a year.
Local governments are saving $5.2 million annually in operating costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 98 million pounds a year, the equivalent of removing more than 6,500 cars from U.S. roads or planting 13,000 acres of trees.
For more information, call EPA at (888) 782-7937.