FORT WORTH -- The city has generated $5.9 million in annual cost savings from making energy-efficiency improvements on its buildings since joining President Barack Obama's "Better Buildings Challenge" in May and expects to reap the goal of 20 percent greater efficiency by 2020, Mayor Betsy Price said Wednesday.
Price made the remarks during the Sustainable Energy Fort Worth Conference at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth.At the conference, leaders of the aeronautics company, University of Texas at Arlington, and Baylor All Saints officially signed on to the challenge."The whole world faces an energy challenge" that forces users to "learn to conserve," Price said at the conference.Numerous other major entities, such as Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and Bell Helicopter, are considering joining the challenge, Price said.Ben-Paul Gilmore, a facilities engineer who runs energy management for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, said the key to savings for major users is in building a central system that controls all facilities from one panel."This is not a low-bid thing, it's a quality thing," Gilmore said.Lockheed Martin has saved millions of dollars from energy conservation, he said."That makes this company more attractive, to win more contracts," he said. The Aeronautics plant implemented its system in 1982.Scott Nishimura,817-390-7808Twitter: @JScottNishimuraHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
