Title
Sustainable Facilities Policy
Action
Action
Approve revised Sustainable Facilities Policy.
Body
Staff Resource(s):
Phil Reiger, General Services
Sarah Hazel, General Services
Explanation
§ Revising the Sustainable Facilities Policy (SFP) is an action item from the Council-adopted Strategic Energy Action Plan (SEAP) which calls for the SFP to be adjusted to meet the requirements of the Sustainable and Resilient Charlotte Resolution.
§ The revised SFP is intended to direct city departments to design, construct, and operate city facilities in a manner aligned with the city’s 2030 SEAP goals to have all of the city’s facilities and fleet be fueled by 100 percent zero carbon energy.
§ The focus of the revised SFP builds on the elements of the original plan first adopted in 2009 with the latest revised version adopted on July 1, 2016.
§ It incorporates actions that focus on the way the city does construction and major renovations and operates and maintains facilities. The revisions bring this policy into alignment with the Strategic Energy Action Plan in the following ways:
- Reduce energy consumption,
- Facilitate more on-site renewable energy generation in the form of solar energy,
- Prepare for the city’s transition to electric vehicles, and
- Provide a mechanism by which progress toward the 2030 zero carbon buildings goal can be regularly and accurately measured.
Highlights
§ The proposed changes to the SFP include:
- New Construction and Major Renovation
§ Increases emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy in building design,
§ Includes that new construction will have the capability to install electric vehicle charging stations, which supports the city’s fleet and the market transformation to electric vehicles,
§ Requires on-site renewable energy (solar) in new buildings and roof replacement projects unless determined to be uniquely prohibitive, and
§ Provides smart energy management solutions for energy-consuming devices (plug loads).
- Operations and Maintenance
§ Aligns how the city measures the energy performance of buildings (benchmarking) with other leading cities by using the Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager tool to identify the least efficient buildings,
§ Develops a process to integrate benchmarking data into existing capital planning processes for best use of city funds for maximum energy savings, and
§ Sets citywide buildings and temperature heating and cooling set points to reduce energy use.
- Other
§ Formalizes internal and external performance reporting processes to measure progress toward 2030 SEAP zero carbon buildings goals and lead by example in the community,
§ Creates more concrete mechanisms for policy compliance and exceptions,
§ Establishes data driven-decision making as a core principle, and
§ Separates policy requirements from implementation details
- The SFP will remain a Council-approved document, while a guidance document for city staff provides specifics on implementation direction that will be updated as needed.
Attachments
Attachment(s)
Revised Sustainable Facilities Policy
Sustainable Facilities Policy Summary Document