All four buildings on VSP Vision Care's Rancho Cordova, Calif., campus have earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star for superior energy efficiency.
Three of the four buildings rated in the high 80th percentile and HQ1, VSP's LEED-EB (existing building) platinum certified building, increased two percent from its certification a year ago now ranking in the 95th percentile among all facilities in the nation.
EPA's national energy performance rating system for commercial buildings provides a 1-100 scale that helps organizations assess how efficiently their buildings use energy relative to similar buildings nationwide. A building that scores a rating of 75 or higher is eligible for Energy Star. Commercial buildings that can earn the Energy Star certification include offices, bank branches, financial centers, retailers, courthouses, hospitals, hotels, K-12 schools, medical offices, supermarkets, dormitories, and warehouses.
VSP qualified for Energy Star by cutting energy consumption by 27 percent, reducing its buildings' operations by six hours, and filtering all air flow into the building with high-rated Merv-13 filters and CO2 sensors. The company also implemented a SynapSense wireless green data center, saving close to 260,000 kilowatts of energy annually, which reduces CO2 emissions by more than 50,000 metric tons.
Commercial buildings that earn Energy Star use an average of 40 percent less energy than typical buildings and release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The vision care company improved its energy performance by managing energy strategically across the entire organization and by making cost-effective improvements to the buildings.
