INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES

Resources for calculating CO2 emissions and reduction pledge

Institutional Initial Pledge Estimator

Cool Capitol Challenge Institutional Carbon Footprint Measurement and Reduction Calculator

Instructions for using the ENERGY STAR portfolio manager benchmarking tool for calculating the buildings portion of your carbon reduction pledge

Resources for developing a reduction plan

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint 

Good places to start are:

1) Cool Capital Tool Kit for Institutions
2) Energy Guidelines for Business Sectors (scroll down a bit and you can see guidelines for each type of business)
3) Cool Leaders Training for Property Managers and Building Engineers
4) Downloadable Directory of Green Building Resources. Last updated June 5, 2007. With thanks to GreenHOME
5) LEED Green Building Certification (US Green Building Council)

6) Climate Solutions
 

Resources for saving energy in your buildings

1) Energy Efficiency Checklist for Office Buildings

2) ENERGY STAR checklist of best practices for operating and maintaining commercial buildings.

3) ENERGY STAR benchmark non-resdential buildings to find out how their energy efficiency compares to similar buildings on a one to 100 scale.

4) Free online ENERGY STAR training on topics including benchmarking buildings and best practices in building operation and maintance (see schedule of upcoming live seminars)

5) Strategic Building Systems offers discounted retrocommissioning services to Cool partners to optimize the operations and maintenance of large buildings and cut energy consumption by 2-20%. Strategic Building Solutions has committed to provide complimentary site evaluations to promising candidate buildings that fully complete this screening document (MS Word and PDF).

6) Best practices for offices: http://www.cec.org/eco-sat/english/guide/section02/index.html

Resources to teach employees how to save energy
Bring Your Green To Work with ENERGY STAR: Interactive tool to help employees learn how to save energy and help the environment in their own workspace.

Office Energy Saving Tips Video: There are several things a person can do to their office to save energy.

Lighting resources for saving energy and carbon

1) Find an Energy-Saving Light Bulb site by Environmental Defense
2) Fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights contain relatively little mercury.
3) "The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: PM Lab Test" - Popular Mechanics, May 2007

• "Here was the real shocker: When it came to the overall quality of the light, all the CFLs scored higher than our incandescent control bulb. In other words, the new fluorescent bulbs aren’t just better for both your wallet and the environment, they produce better light."

"Energy Efficiency Makes the Difference: The world’s largest real estate firm looks for a competitive advantage by helping clients improve energy performance" -

Building Operating Management, September 2007

• CB Richard Ellis commits to use ENERGY STAR tools to lower its carbon footprint.  CoStar analysis shows a price premium for ENERGY STAR-labeled buildings

Resources for helping your employees commute sustainably

Local jurisdictions provide free help to employers to survey their employees and collect other data and then use that data to design an employee-friendly "sustainable commute" plan -- the services are free. Contact information for free employer commuting assistance: http://www.mwcog.org/commuter/Bdy-empsvcs-reps.html

The link to information on how employers can help their employees with alternate commuting options: http://www.mwcog.org/commuter/Bdy-empsvcs-services.html

Resources related to reducing waste

1) EPA Wastewise Tools for calculating the CO2 impact of recycling and waste reduction
2) Environmental Defense Paper Calculator

Other Resources

1) Green DC Week Global Warming brochure with energy saving tips
2) HP has great IT energy saving tips:

    HP Energy Tips

    5 Steps Toward Energy Efficiency

3) Environmentally preferable procurement resource:

http://www.cec.org/eco-sat/english/index.html

What our partners have done

Washington Parks and People action plan
Josephine Buttler Parks Center Carbon Lowering Demonstration

Resources for Hotels

1) Energy Star for Hotels 
2) Hotel & Motel Management article "Compact fluorescents save money, energy" March 5, 2007 by Stuart Brodsky (includes brief case study of Willard Hotel)

3) New York Times article "Enjoy Your Green Stay" June 26, 2007 by Martha White

• “'Environmental issues are one of the hottest issues within the travel industry right now,' said Bill Connors, the executive director of the National Business Travel Association. The association is addressing the topic of eco-friendly elements in hotel design and operations for the first time at its annual convention in July."

Resources for restaurants
 

1) Five Paths to a Greener Restaurant

2) Green Restaurant Association

3) NRDC calculates that importing water from France and Italy generates 4000 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to the annual emissions from 700 cars.  An alternative is for restaurants to serve filtered tap water.  "Drink local" complements "eat local" NY Times article May 30, 2007 "Fighting the Tide, a Few Restaurants Tilt to Tap Water"

Resources for retailers