DMPS Continues to Earn National Honors for Energy Efficiency
Des Moines Public Schools has once again been honored with an Energy Star Partner of the Year Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy for our energy efficiency efforts. DMPS was first recognized in 2012 and has been regularly honored ever since. The school district is one of two Iowa-based organizations honored in 2021. Among the accomplishments during 2020 that earned this recognition include:
- Benchmarking 100 percent of DMPS facilities in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, totaling over 6.1 million square feet to achieve an average ENERGY STAR score of 83.
- Achieving ENERGY STAR certification at 41 schools.
- Developing plans and specification documents for HVAC upgrade projects at 10 buildings, utilizing state-of-the-art energy efficient equipment.
- Decreasing site energy use by more than 127 BBTU and source energy use by more than 184 BBTU since 2009.
- Spending an average of $124 per student on energy costs, significantly lower than the national average of $205 per student.
- Leading the City of Des Moines to become the third-ranked mid-sized city on EPA’s 2020 ENERGY STAR Top Mid-Sized Cities listing.
- Saving more than $2 million compared to 2008 baseline energy year expenditures.
Since 2008 DMPS has saved more than $20.2 million and prevented the emissions of more than 40,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide through our energy efficiency efforts.
Below is the press release issued by the EPA and DOE announcing that DMPS is a recipient of this year’s recognition.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring two Iowa ENERGY STAR partners for their outstanding leadership in reducing American energy bills and tackling climate change.
Des Moines Public Schools and Principal Real Estate Investors in Des Moines have been named 2021 Partners of the Year for Sustained Excellence.
Nationally, EPA and DOE are honoring 206 ENERGY STAR partners from 39 states. The award winners include Fortune 500® companies, schools, retailers, manufacturers, home builders, and commercial building owners and operators across the U.S.
“ENERGY STAR award-winning partners are showing the world that delivering real climate solutions makes good business sense and promotes job growth,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Many of them have been doing it for years, inspiring all of us who are committed to tackling the climate crisis and leading the way to a clean energy economy.”
“These organizations have committed year after year to saving energy while protecting the environment,” said Acting EPA Region 7 Administrator Ed Chu. “Iowans continue to benefit from the active efforts of these organizations.”
Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) won the Partner of the Year Award for Sustained Excellence for the eighth straight year. DMPS utilized the ENERGY STAR Treasure Hunt Map for K-12 schools to complete building tune-up audits, which identified savings opportunities in five buildings and benchmarked 100% of DMPS facilities in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, totaling over 6.1 million square feet to achieve an average ENERGY STAR score of 83 and saving over $20.2 million since 2008.
As an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awardee for Sustained Excellence for the fourth straight year, Principal Real Estate Investors, the dedicated real estate investment group of Principal Global Investors, continued its corporate commitment to energy conservation by benchmarking 252 buildings in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, totaling 54.2 million square feet to achieve ENERGY STAR certification at 28 buildings in 2020.
This year, ENERGY STAR is recognizing more than 150 award winners for their year-over-year commitment to energy efficiency through the program’s highest honor: ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award. To qualify for Sustained Excellence recognition, winners must have already received ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition for a minimum of two consecutive years and gone above and beyond the criteria needed to qualify for recognition.
For over 25 years, EPA’s ENERGY STAR program has been America’s resource for saving energy and protecting the environment. In 2019 alone, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses save nearly 500 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $39 billion in energy costs. These savings resulted in emission reductions of nearly 390 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, roughly equivalent to 5% of U.S. total greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more about the ENERGY STAR Awards and award winners’ achievements.
About ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500®—rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses avoid more than $450 billion in energy costs and achieve 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions.