Mayor Sly James honored two dozen Kansas City property owners and building managers out of 175 businesses that are participating in the mayor’s 2014 Energy Challenge, an initiative to encourage energy efficiency, cost savings and cleaner air in the Kansas City region.
Five companies were cited for managing buildings that qualify for ENERGY STAR® certification, meaning their buildings are 75 percent more energy efficient than similar sized structures. They are: 2555 Grand Boulevard, the home of Shook Hardy & Bacon, owned and managed by the commercial real estate firm, Hines; Burns & McDonnell; Freightquote; JE Dunn Construction; and the City of Kansas City.
The top five achievers are pictured here with Mayor Sly James.
“Efficiency is one priority on my four-point agenda,” Mayor James said. “Efficiency is good for business and good for livability. Energy efficiency not only saves money. It helps improve the air we breathe, making Kansas City a better place to live.”
Adam Blake, CEO of Brightergy, a local company that pairs innovative energy solutions with proprietary financing to enable companies to control energy management, introduced the mayor to the 100 attendees at the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City event on Monday.
“Today’s announcement that more than 175 buildings took part in the Mayor’s 2014 Energy Challenge is proof positive that Kansas City can be a leader in energy efficiency,” said Kansas City Councilman Scott Taylor. “I am proud to be part of this project, and commend the work of the City Energy Project Advisory Committee, a stakeholder group of volunteers, who are working on reducing energy consumption in Kansas City’s largest buildings.”
The Energy Challenge began In the summer of 2014 when the chamber invited members to benchmark their energy consumption with ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager. James said the city wanted to lead by example by including the property owned and managed by the city in the project.
“Kansas City made this list because we submitted more than 60 buildings for the Energy Challenge, including fire stations, community centers, police stations and many others you might not think about, like the Gem Theater and the two downtown parking facilities,” said James.
The City Energy Project, a joint initiative of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Institute for Market Transformation, is part a national grant initiative, funded by a partnership of Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Kresge Foundation. Kansas City is one of 10 cities nationwide awarded a City Energy Project grant, and the only proposal to include a strong partnership with a regional chamber and the local, investor-owned electrical utility, Kansas City Power & Light Co.
For more information, visit www.cityenergyproject.org.