EcoWorks is a non-profit environmental consulting group that is involved in many projects in Detroit and around Michigan. The project I am involved in is assessing the city of Dearborn and providing recommendations to lower their energy use and make them a more sustainable city in general. The first step to achieving this is to bookmark their current energy use, which is the main project I am working on. Once I have recorded every municipal building in Dearborn and its energy use, I will put that information into a program called Portfolio Manager which will assess the building based on its size and purpose and determine if it is over or under performing.
We have already begun making recommendations for the Civic Center of Dearborn. This center has a pool, a gym, office space, two auditoriums, and a senior center. This large multi-purpose building has an enormous energy bill, so EcoWorks is researching ways to cut the bill significantly. This week I did a case study assessment on replacing paper towels with hand dryers. I found that even though it would increase the electric bill somewhat, it would cut net costs of drying hands by 95%. This would save the facility thousands of dollars and the upfront cost of installation would pay for themselves within a few years. It was very cool to do the research and see first hand that even though some of these projects cost a lot up front, they generally pay for themselves quickly and ultimately end up in saving a lot of money.
My experience has been very positive thus far. I have found some cool places to hang out and I hope over the next few weeks to find many more.
Hey Eva!
It sounds like EcoWorks is a really good organization. I think something like the project that you’re doing will be useful in the future, since sustainability is “in” and all that jazz.