City of Charlotte Launches New Program to Cut Energy Use
Published on April 20, 2023
The City of Charlotte has launched Power Down the Crown, a voluntary building energy performance benchmarking program to help building owners track and reduce energy usage. The program seeks to reduce program-wide energy use per square foot by 10% by 2030.
The program was developed as part of the city’s Strategic Energy Action Plan (SEAP) by experts in the buildings sector. Building energy performance benchmarking is a best practice for energy efficiency which measures a building’s energy use, tracks its performance over time and compares its performance to similar buildings. Benefits of building energy benchmarking programs include:
- Demonstrated leadership in the community.
- Reduced energy use and operating costs for building owners.
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions.
- Increased demand for energy efficiency services and energy efficient products.
- Improved comfort and air quality for occupants.
Power Down the Crown will help organizations take advantage of opportunities to share and learn sustainability best practices, obtain technical support for tracking building energy data and receive recognition from the City of Charlotte for increasing the efficiency of buildings and contributing to a low-carbon future.
“We are excited about the program’s potential to help building owners across the City of Charlotte,” said Mayor Lyles. “Power Down the Crown participants will benefit from lower energy use while contributing to our shared goals of reducing carbon emissions and creating a healthy, resilient Charlotte. We encourage participation as we work together to power down the crown.”
The building sector accounts for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Charlotte. Reducing energy use in buildings will play a critical role in ensuring the city achieves its 2050 goal to become a low-carbon city.
Numerous public and private organizations have already stepped up to join the program, including:
- Trane Technologies.
- UNC Charlotte.
- Honeywell.
- Central Piedmont Community College.
- Kimco Realty.
- Novant Health.
- Nucor.
Power Down the Crown participants’ energy benchmarking data will become available alongside the city’s benchmarking data on the new Power Down the Crown dashboard.
The first information session for interested future participants is on May 16, register by emailing PowerDownTheCrown@charlottenc.gov.
To learn more about the city’s current and past benchmarking efforts and other SEAP progress, visit the SEAP page.