Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz
Green Garages
November 10, 2011
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for being here today. We are fortunate to have a distinguished group of people here with us today. Thank all of you for being here.
As a parent, I understand that my most important responsibility is to secure an improved future for my children. As a community, we have that same responsibility for the generations that follow us. And there is nothing that will have a greater effect on the legacy we leave behind, than the impact we make today on our environment. An outdated tax policy can be changed and a poorly built road can be repaved, but any damage that we inflict on our environment is something that our children and even our grandchildren will have to live with.
That is why Baltimore County is committed to environmentally friendly and sustainable practices. We understand the important responsibility of environmental stewardship, and we will reduce the strain on our environment wherever and however we can.
Green Garage Plan
Today, we are taking a significant step forward with the installation of the new lighting system and the new electric car chargers in this garage.
When the Revenue Authority conducted an energy audit of their operations, they saw that parking garage lighting was their agency’s biggest electricity user. The decision was made to install high tech energy efficient lighting in all of their parking garages. And if you’ve ever driven through Towson at night and seen these garages lit up like a Christmas Tree, even though they are completely empty between 6 p.m. and 7a.m., you know what a common sense decision this was.
This project is the largest installation of its kind in the parking garage industry. It uses fluorescent lighting technology, controlled by wireless transceivers as well as motion and occupancy sensors, to minimize energy use. It is a major lighting overhaul that creates an integrated network to control all of the lighting in our parking garages. It is a web based system that can be preprogrammed and controlled by a desktop, a laptop, or even a smart phone, allowing one central operator to manage energy consumption down to the individual lamp. Lights in control zones can be dimmed or completely shut off when the need is reduced or non-existent. Ambient light sensors register the amount of daylight available and allow the control system, working with motion sensors, to adjust the lighting accordingly.
Savings
We expect these changes to reduce electricity usage up to 75 percent, saving taxpayers more than $100,000 per year. The total cost of the installation was $875,000, which was partially offset by a $150,000 stimulus grant, a $150,000 grant from BGE, and $100,000 in tax incentives to be passed along to the system’s installer, Pritchett Controls, in exchanged for a discounted installation. All told, the Revenue Authority expects to recoup their initial investment within four years.
These are some fantastic changes that are really in keeping with the responsibility we have to the people of this County. They will make a real difference in moving us forward into the more sustainable model we need to create if we are leave future generations the kind of environment they deserve.
Electric Charging Station
Now, this new lighting system is a great addition, but it is not the only one. In recent years, the automobile industry has been working to build more sustainable cars. Electric cars are becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. However, while these vehicles may not use gas, they still need to fill up. To support and encourage the use of these low impact cars, we have installed 2 charging stations in this parking garage. We will follow that by installing two on-street charging stations in downtown Towson later this year. To demonstrate, we are fortunate that GM has provided us with a Chevy Volt electric car, the kind of next generation vehicle whose components are manufactured at GM’s Baltimore Plant in White Marsh.
Please follow me down the ramp where we’ll see a demonstration of the new charging stations conducted by Bill Tiger, the Plant Manager of GM Baltimore Operations in White Marsh, where they manufacture components for these electric cars.
