NSTAR Earns the ENERGY STARŪ for Superior Energy Efficiency
March 3, 2009
NSTAR has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s prestigious ENERGY STAR, the national symbol for superior energy efficiency and environmental protection, for its offices in Westwood. This signifies that the building’s energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of facilities nationwide.
“Earning the ENERGY STAR designation is a tribute to the hard work and environmental commitment of our employees,” said Tom May, NSTAR Chairman, President and CEO. “We promote energy efficiency and renewable energy to our customers every day, so it’s important that we lead by example at our own facilities.”
Commercial buildings that earn the ENERGY STAR use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. NSTAR improved its energy performance by strategically managing energy use and making cost-effective improvements to its building.
“Improving the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings is critical to preserving our environment and our natural resources,” said Kathleen Hogan, director of EPA’s Climate Protection Partnerships Division. “From office buildings to hotels, supermarkets to schools, the ENERGY STAR distinguishes those organizations who are taking environmental responsibility into their own hands.”
To earn the ENERGY STAR, NSTAR took the following actions to improve its building’s performance:
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Lighting – Installed new high performance fixtures with task-tuning for the call center; retrofitted selected fixtures with high-performance fluorescent lamps and ballasts; installed occupancy sensors; installed a new full-building lighting control system with controllable lighting zones, on/off daylight control and daylight dimming; implemented on-demand lighting control for the datacenter; selectively reduced night circuit lighting near windows to reduce night sky pollution.
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HVAC – Installed new air-handler controls and revised controls sequences; rebalanced all terminal equipment and calibrated temperature sensors; converted constant-flow pumping systems to variable-flow, reconfigured datacenter aisles and implemented server virtualization; moved designated smoking areas 25 feet away from building entrances and outdoor air intakes.
ENERGY STAR was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products, new homes, and commercial and industrial buildings. For more information about ENERGY STAR visit www.energystar.gov.
NSTAR is the largest Massachusetts-based, investor-owned electric and gas utility. The company transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, including more than one million electric customers in 81 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities.
