Office building owners across the Puget Sound, from Seattle to Tacoma and other points in the area, are in a competition with one another to see who can put the biggest dent into office energy use, reports the Seattle Times.
In its second year, the Kilowatt Crackdown competition so far has nearly 50 entries, which puts it close to last year's 53. The group is taking entries until April 30.
Last year about 20 percent of the Puget Sound office inventory - representing about 18 million square feet of office space - participated in the competition, which Jack Davis of BetterBricks called the "Stanley Cup of energy efficiency." BetterBricks is a sponsor of the event.
Last year, Unico Properties, a Seattle real estate management firm, won the inaugural Kilowatt Cup. One of Unico's buildings, The Financial Center, managed a 17 percent decrease in energy use. Another, the IBM Building, registered a 14 percent cut.
The Kilowatt Crackdown, which is run by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of King County, relies on the Energy Star rating system when calculating entrants' building energy performance.
BOMA represents about 250 firms that own or manage commercial real estate in the Puget Sound area.
The second installment of the competition will run over two years.
For a list of last year's winners, click here.
