Siemens’ Scarborough, Maine Office Earns U.S. EPA Energy Star

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), commercial buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR use less energy than similar buildings and consequently release less carbon emissions. Recently, the Scarborough, Maine office of Siemens Industry, Inc.’s Building Technologies Division earned its ENERGY STAR label as a result of its local employees’ personal efforts to reduce energy consumption and optimize building systems at the facility.

According to the EPA, the ENERGY STAR energy performance scale helps organizations assess the energy efficiency of their facilities relative to similar buildings. Commercial buildings scoring 75 or higher on EPA’s 1 to 100 scale are considered efficient enough to achieve the designation. Siemens Scarborough office, which supports some 60 professional and technical employees, scored a 77 and now uses approximately 30% less energy than office buildings of similar size.

“Siemens is committed to improving the sustainability of all its operations,” said Darcie Confar, Building Technologies’ New England regional sustainability champion. The achievement, explained Confar, marks a milestone for the company’s sustainability program, which calls for achieving the ENERGY STAR for all offices in the region. “Winning the ENERGY STAR label demonstrates that, just as we are helping our customers across New England reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprints, we are addressing energy conservation in our own facilities as well.”

To earn the label, Siemens implemented a variety of facility improvements and other measures to increase the building’s energy efficiency and reduce consumption. For example, Siemens energy engineers integrated occupancy sensors, originally implemented for lighting efficiency, with the facility’s Siemens APOGEE® Building Automation System to control HVAC system airflows when spaces are unoccupied. Similarly, the occupancy sensors and lighting system retrofits also contributed, reducing energy consumption by approximately 18 percent.

According to Siemens site manager Jeffrey Goranson, optimizing building and lighting systems was just the beginning: “A large part of our business today is helping our customers save money through energy reduction projects.  We regularly provide energy benchmarking reports for our customers to help them evaluate how their fleet of buildings is performing. Being in the energy reduction business it only seemed logical that we walk the talk. Working through the Energy Star process for our local Siemens office,” said Goranson, “allowed us to better understand where we were spending our energy dollars. Our employees continue to look for ways to help lower our energy usage and to improve our sustainability efforts. It has been a team effort and we are very pleased with our results.”     

ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy that acknowledges the efforts companies make to reduce energy consumption, operate more cost effectively, and use fewer resources. The program acknowledges energy-efficient solutions and best practices; the recipients rank in the top 25 percent of efficiently operated buildings nationwide.