Heat leaks out of the historic Brown Palace Hotel’s sandstone facade in the winter — but a new resurfacing project will seal all the holes.
“The hotel was built in 1892, so we have many great opportunities for energy efficiency,” said Brenna St. Onge, who heads the Brown Palace’s sustainability committee.
The city of Denver is aiming for more commercial buildings to join the Brown Palace as it launches a new energy efficiency program Tuesday.
The Denver City Energy Project is targeting Denver’s 6,045 commercial and multifamily buildings of more than 10,000 square feet. The city estimates there are $1.3 billion in energy savings to be harvested from the buildings.
“Addressing climate change is one of the city’s goals, and buildings account for 64 percent of the city’s greenhouse gases,” said Doug Linkhart, executive director of the Denver Department of Environmental Health. “But there are multiple benefits.”
The energy project is kicking off with 57 buildings joining the voluntary program, including the Brown Palace.
The effort is focused on buildings using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, an online tool created by federal energy and environmental agencies, to tally up their energy use.
That will give the landlord or management a benchmark and also an energy score, ranging from 0 to 100.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” said Katrina Managan, a senior adviser to the project. “This is the first step to energy efficiency.”
The project also will give the city a better idea of energy use among buildings. Currently, the city gets one global number from Xcel Energy.
In 2013, commercial properties used 4.9 million megawatt-hours of electricity, about three times the amount used by all Denver single-family homes.
“That doesn’t help much,” said Managan. “It is like trying to solve childhood obesity only knowing the total weight of all the children.”
Xcel Energy is supporting the new project. “This works for both sides,” said Jerome Davis, regional vice president for Xcel.
While customers may save on electricity, the project also helps Xcel manage demand, especially in peak periods, Davis said.
Other cities — including Austin, Texas; Seattle; San Francisco; and New York City — have started benchmarking programs, as have other states.
The old and leaky Brown Palace started in 2012 with a score of 22, St. Onge said. Within a year, the 300,000-square-foot hotel had raised it to 33.
With projects to install new heating and air conditioning systems, renovate the facade and add high-efficiency light bulbs, the score is set to rise even higher, St. Onge said.
At the other end of the spectrum is 1670 Broadway, a 700,000-square-foot office building managed by Cushman & Wakefield of Colorado.
The building is also part of the project, and it has an Energy Star score of 84.
“The building is 30 years old, but we’ve tried to keep up,” said Judy Purviance-Anderson, the building’s general manager.
The centerpiece of the most recent effort is a $600,000 centralized energy-management system. The system enables managers to control a wide variety of building functions, from electricity to heat to air.
In its first nine months of operation, the system cut electricity use 18 percent, saving 1.8 million kilowatt-hours, Purviance-Anderson said.
The building received a $184,000 energy-efficiency rebate from Xcel, and the system is projected to pay for itself in three years.
These steps aren’t just for environmental or efficiency goals.
“Tenant demands keep changing,” Purviance-Anderson said. “We have to keep the building marketable … and this is part of it.”
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912, mjaffe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bymarkjaffe
