Energy Efficiency Standards for State Buildings

Arizona has energy requirements for state buildings contained within their statutes. A.R.S. § 34-451 requires the Department of Administration, the Department of Transportation, and the Arizona Board of Regents to reduce their energy use by 15% by July 1, 2011 using July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002 as the baseline year. As a whole, the three building systems reduced their energy usage on a BTU per square foot basis by 15.8% by July 2011, meeting the requirements of the statute.

The statute also requires all departments to purchase products certified by Energy Star or the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) in all categories that are available unless the products are shown not to be cost-effective on a life cycle cost basis. The statute also required the Governor's Office of Energy Policy to adopt energy conservation standards for all new capital projects, including buildings designed and constructed by school districts, community college districts, and universities. The Governor's Office of Energy Policy (which has since been dissolved) selected ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004, which is also a prerequisite for LEED certification.

Background

Two Executive Orders passed by a previous administration, EO 2005-05 and EO 2008-29, established energy requirements for new state-funded buildings. EO 2005-05 required new state-funded buildings to include renewable energy in their power mix and to meet energy efficiency and green building standards. Executive Order 2008-29 reaffirmed those goals and established a new requirement for state agencies to conduct an analysis of their energy usage by January 15, 2009 and to identify what is required to meet their goals. From 2009 to 2012, investment grade audits were conducted on 55 state buildings. Sixteen large state government buildings received energy conservation measures.