ENERGY STAR Challenge Participant Story

Texas
Austin, Texas
Date Joined: December 06, 2005

The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) works with schools districts, institutions of higher education, state agencies and local and county governments to improve Texas's energy performance.

SECO has helped over 600 Texas school districts identify $15 million in potential annual utility savings through participation in the Schools/Local Governments Program. In 2000, the program was expanded to include local governments, public hospitals, and community colleges.

The State Agencies Program delivers a variety of programs and services to ensure that existing state facilities and institutions of higher education are operated and maintained for optimal energy efficiency, and that all new facilities are designed and built to be energy efficient.

In 2001, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 5, known as the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, which imposes new energy efficiency requirements on political subdivisions in 41 urban and surrounding counties. In response to the Texas Legislature, SECO formed the Texas Energy Partnership (TEP), a partnership between the SECO, the US Department of Energy and ENERGY STAR to facilitate technical and program assistance to political subdivisions to reduce their energy usage in existing buildings. The affected political subdivisions must implement energy -efficient measures that are designed to decrease electric consumption while improving air quality. They must implement all cost-effective energy-efficiency measures, establish a goal to reduce electricity consumption by 5 percent each year for 5 years, and report annually to SECO.

As an ENERGY STAR partner and in support of its existing efforts to improve energy efficiency, the Texas State Energy Conservation office joins and supports the ENERGY STAR Challenge by:

  • Continuing to encourage building owners to measure the energy efficiency of their facilities using the ENERGY STAR performance rating system where appropriate;
  • Continuing to support schools districts, institutions of higher learning, state agencies and local and county governments in improving the energy efficiency of their facilities;
  • Recognizing along with EPA, organizations that demonstrate leadership by achieving a 10, 20, 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency using EPA's energy performance rating system; and
  • Linking to ENERGY STAR guidance, where appropriate, in the tools they provide to Texas institutions to help reduce energy.

Contact Information:
Glenn Jennings
512-463-1771 (phone)
glenn.jennings@cpa.state.tx.us (email)