2120 Milvia Street, 2nd Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704
TEL: (510) 981-7439, TDD: (510) 981-7474
Office Hours: Mon-  Fri 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Email: Energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us

Government - Successes
see also Community - Success Stories

Major Awards

Success Stories

City Building Reduces Energy Consumption and Costs
Lighting changes were recently implemented at 1947 Center Street to reduce operating costs and energy consumption as well as emissions of pollutants from electrical generating plants. The project, managed by the Community Energy Services Corporation, used the latest lighting technologies to improve upon already highly efficient fluorescent lighting. 

The retrofit is expected to have the following economic and environmental impacts: cost savings of $9,000 per year, which pays back project costs in less than four years; energy savings of 64,000 kWh (kilowatt hours) per year, equivalent to the electricity used by 17 typical Berkeley households; and reduction of 39 tons of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) pollution annually, which is equivalent to emissions from about 100,000 miles of travel in a typical automobile.

Saving Taxpayer Money While Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The City of Berkeley is actively working to reduce the amount of energy 
used in municipal facilities.  This is accomplished by retrofitting of existing buildings for energy efficiency and by including energy efficient design as a key element in new construction and rehabilitation projects.

All permanent city facilities have had energy retrofitting performed to reduce their energy use.  This includes removing incandescent lamps and installing new compact fluorescent bulbs (available to consumers at various retail locations for around $2 per lamp), replacing old inefficient T-12 (1.5-inch diameter) fluorescent lamps with new T-8 (1-inch) lamps and electronic ballasts, installing occupancy sensors to turn off lights, upgrading heating and ventilation systems and improving building control systems. These retrofits also  improve the comfort of the facility.  
(For information on free small business lighting audits and incentives for lighting equipment. see the Smart Lights program.)

Traffic Lights Program
The City has also replaced red traffic light bulbs and orange pedestrian "hand"  bulbs at all 126 intersections from inefficient incandescent bulbs to LEDs (light-emitting  diodes) which emit a strong light but use far less energy.  These LEDs are saving  over $143,000 annually. The City is also in the process replacing the green LEDs  for even more savings.

Renovation and New Construction
The City of Berkeley has applied energy conservation measures to the newly-remodeled Civic Center, located at 2180 Milvia Street.  By using natural cooling stacks, the need for mechanical ventilation and air conditioning has been eliminated in all but the computer center and two conference rooms.  The building has operable windows, so that occupants can open and close windows for personal comfort and fresh air.  Automatic dimming controls reduce the amount of electric lighting in proportion to increasing daylight levels, further reducing electric demands.  Heating and hot water is provided by an efficient boiler system, which produces radiant heat through convectors into the offices. Back-up generators for emergency use will run on recycled cooking oil from local restaurants.

The newly-constructed Public Safety Building, located at MLK and Center Streets, exceeds California Energy Code Title 24 standards by more than 20%, and at no additional expense to the city or its residents.  This was achieved by employing smart, energy-efficient designs and technology.  The building is highly insulated, and has a heat recovery system to reduce the amount of the heating needed.

Windows are fitted with Low-E glass (low emmissivity, which reduces the amount of energy passing through the glass in either direction) to keep the building cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. Lighting is at appropriate levels for each area of the building; excessive lighting has been eliminated in the design.

Energy Reduction in Transportation
Other measures taken by the City of Berkeley to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions include the incorporation of CNG (compressed natural gas) and electric vehicles into the city's fleet vehicles. You may see these vehicles around town.

The City's electric vehicles generally have a cruising range of 60 miles between recharging.  The City also has a fleet of bicycles available for city employees to use; these are useful during the retrofitting of City Hall, to connect city employees in offices which are scattered around Berkeley.  Bicycles save gasoline and are easier to park than cars in the city. New vehicles which the city may explore in the near future include the hybrid vehicle, which incorporates an electric engine with a  2-, 3- or 4-cylinder gasoline engine.

These vehicles can get more than 67 m.p.g., and have a greater cruising range and carrying capacity than current models of  electric vehicles. They also exceed California's current  LEV (Low Emission Vehicle) standards for hydrocarbons (HC) by 97%, Carbon Monoxide (CO) by 76%, Nitrous Oxide (NO_x) by 97%, and Particulate Matter (PM) by 90%.  Learn more about new automotive emission standards and find out about the Clean Car Campaign.

For more information on what the City of Berkeley is doing about transportation planning and design, visit the City's new Transportation Office.