Pierce County is signing onto two energy-saving challenges that are designed to reduce costs and lessen the environmental impact of county-owned facilities.
The county is taking the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Energy Challenge, which calls for an energy efficiency improvement of at least 15 percent in county-owned buildings. This supports Pierce County’s commitment to sustainability by addressing economic and environmental issues that stem from the cost and use of energy in commercial buildings. Reducing energy consumption decreases operational costs and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases generated by commercial energy use. Here is a link to IFMA’s announcement about the Energy Challenge: www.ifma.org/tools/prdetail.cfm?id=404.
In order to support the IFMA Energy Challenge, Pierce County is also taking the “Northwest Plug Load Pledge.” This means that the county has pledged to reduce energy use by becoming a leader in procuring efficient products to further reduce its impact on our natural resources and cut operational costs. This is a representation of Pierce County’s commitment to reducing energy use by purchasing ENERGY STAR products in its next procurement cycle, enabling power management features on computer equipment, and working with local utility incentive options prior to making information technology procurement decisions.
Reducing energy usage by 15 percent is one of six goals in Pierce County’s 2015 Sustainability Plan. More information about the goals and the strategies to reach them is available at www.piercecountywa.org/sustainability.