The Building Owners and Managers Associations of Greater Minneapolis and Greater St. Paul today joined Xcel Energy in announcing the winners of the first annual Kilowatt Crackdown, a new energy conservation initiative. The year-long contest challenged Twin Cities area building owners to improve their buildings’ efficiency.
“We are thrilled that so many building owners participated in this event,” said Judy Poferl, president and CEO of Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota, an Xcel Energy company. “We all know that energy efficiency makes good business sense as well as good environmental sense, but a contest like this is a great way to help companies get started.”
A total of 86 buildings in the Twin Cities participated, saving over 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s equivalency tool, the savings equate to a reduction of more than 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or taking 1,800 vehicles off the road. It’s also enough electricity to power more than 1,100 homes for a year.
Companies implemented changes such as retrofitting lighting, upgrading motors and variable frequency drives, buying higher efficiency heating or cooling equipment and conducting building tune-ups. Xcel Energy distributed over $1 million in rebates.
The Building Owners and Managers Associations and Xcel Energy provided free assistance by helping building managers benchmark energy use through an ENERGY STAR tool, then determining a list of suggested improvements and finally locating stimulus funding and rebates to help offset the cost of improvements.
The winners are:
| Kilowatt Cup (Best in Show) | |
| Minneapolis winner | Carlson Real Estate (multiple buildings) |
| St. Paul winner | Lawson Commons |
| Highest Performing Building | |
| 30,000-99,999 square feet | Carlson Center East 1, Minnetonka |
| 100,000-499,999 square feet | Lawson Commons, St. Paul |
| 500,000+ square feet | Marquette Plaza, Minneapolis |
| Most Improved Building | |
| 30,000-99,999 square feet | One Carlson Parkway, Plymouth |
| 100,000-499,999 square feet | Ramsey County Courthouse/St. Paul City Hall |
| Most Valuable Tenant Award | |
| Minneapolis winner | IDS Green Team |
| St. Paul winner | Ramsey County Courthouse/St. Paul City Hall |
The Kilowatt Crackdown partners include Xcel Energy, BOMA Greater Minneapolis, BOMA St. Paul, the St. Paul Port Authority through its Trillion BTU project and the city of Minneapolis through its financing programs.
According to ENERGY STAR, energy represents the single largest operating expense for commercial buildings. The Kilowatt Crackdown not only improves a business’ economic competitiveness, it also helps expand the energy conservation industry by creating new “green jobs” and creates a national center of expertise. Additionally, it reduces the use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.
