Cutting Back: Don't mess with TPWD

Steve Schroeter, TPWD support services branch head (Photo by Jana Birchum)

With two migrants to Austin winning the overall challenge for biggest-saving renter and homeowner (Rainer Blunck and Haley Mack, respectively), it might seem that Texans themselves are lagging on energy conservation. But it's hard to get more Texan than the Texas Parks & Wildlife Depart-ment, whose Austin headquarters came second in the commercial kilowatt-reduction challenge by knocking 70,000 kwh off the agency's usage. According to Steve Schroeter, TPWD support services branch head, that's part of a departmentwide culture of energy awareness. "Our best energy managers are our site managers," Schroeter said. "They keep a close eye on their utilities because they can't afford anything that puts a dent in their budget."

The department entered into an energy performance contract in February 2006, under which it hired TAC Americas to audit its energy needs, retrofit its office, and then be paid for the repairs out of the savings. A finance agreement from the Texas Public Finance Authority allowed TPWD to go beyond the original plans to make additional changes. TPWD's rebuilding plans were extensive, such as installing a smaller chiller system for days when running the full system would be a waste of cash and adding variable speed drives to air conditioning and heating. "When all that was done, it was netting $120,000 of savings, and it goes beyond the kilowatt side of things," Schroeter said. Through measures like replacing old toilets with low-flow alternates, they also cut down on water use.

But the department did not leave it solely to technology to cut their emissions. Schroeter is part of what he calls the Green Team, which educates employees about energy-saving. "One day, we decided we were going to get people to turn their equipment off," he said. "So we surveyed the building one night to see how many things were left on. We sent out a blitzkrieg of e-mails, surveyed again, and saw a remarkable difference in the number of computers and speakers and printers and cappuccino machines and curling irons that people left on."