Sustainable Building - The City of Houston has adopted a Green Building Resolution, which set a target of Silver level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for new construction, replacement facilities and major renovations of city of Houston-owned buildings and facilities with more than 10,000 square feet of occupied space, the LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

The City has initiated 18 LEED certified projects, representing approximately 700,000 square feet of occupied space and a construction value of $90 million.

The City has also retrofitted the light bulbs in 62 City buildings. The project replaces T-12 lamps with electronic ballasts. Other lighting improvements include using compact fluorescent type replacement lamps for standard incandescent bulb replacement where applicable. This decision was made because it is cost-effective and conserves natural resources. The City will apply Demand Reduction Incentive Funds that are available from Center Point Energy, to offset the cost of the project. The estimated reduction in electricity cost is $464,253 annually. This project includes 17,441 existing fixtures that are being retrofitted.

Also, The City will be installing occupancy sensors on light switches at the Police Administration Building , Gerson Building , and Police Communication Building . These sensors automatically turn off ceiling lights in offices where no motion is detected for 10 minutes. This proposal includes controlling 3,047 total existing fixtures with occupancy sensors. This initiative will save the City several thousand-kilowatt hours' electricity, making the city buildings more energy efficient.

Building Retrofits - The City of Houston has committed 271 facilities totaling approximately 11 million square feet to the Clinton Foundation Climate Initiative's Large Buildings Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program

The following types of facilities will be in this project:

• Fire stations (100 facilities totaling 926,000 sq.ft.)
• Police stations (81 facilities totaling 2.4 million  sq.ft)
• Health facilities (34 facilities totaling 1 million sq.ft.)
• Convention and Entertainment facilities (5 facilities totaling 3.9 million sq.ft.)
• Libraries (40 facilities totaling 1 million sq.ft.)
• Municipal Courts (1 facility totaling 104,000 sq.ft.)
• General Office Facilities (e.g. City Hall, City Hall Annex, 611 Walker, etc.)

(10 facilities totaling 1.6 million sq.ft.)

The agreement requires the two ESCOs to identify their experience and qualifications per building typology to perform analysis, design, engineering, preparation of engineering plans and specifications, installation, commissioning, monitoring and verification of savings, and management of major utility cost reduction projects that have involved utility cost reduction measures which address whole building components and applications. Such components and applications might include: lighting, space heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, building envelope, heat recovery, energy and water management systems, environmental system controls, motors, domestic water heating, fuel switching, air distribution systems, water distribution/metering or other energy/water related improvements; e.g., utility rate improvements and renewable energy but in no case is this list exhaustive.

The two successful ESCOs are required to provide all services necessary to implement energy efficiency conservation and cost savings measures including but not limited to the following: assess and verify existing conditions; issue investment grade energy audits for each facility, review and verify the City of Houston's design standards requirements; program and develop a needs assessment; provide drawings and specifications; provide computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) documentation; provide permitting services; estimate construction costs; provide value engineering; arrange and conduct meetings; carry on normal construction administration and perform all construction activities; and assist in warranty reviews. 

The City anticipates a major reduction in annual utility and operating costs through the implementation of this energy efficiency and utility conservation program. The two ESCOs are required to complete and provide an investment grade audit of the facilities before any contracting is priced.  The ESCOs must provide this investment grade audit for all proposed utility conservation measures for each facility.  From this list of proposed measures the City of Houston will select the individual work scopes that will be contracted for each facility.  The ESCOs must include clear instructions on how the guarantee calculation is derived for each project and if necessary the agreement allows the City of Houston to examine the books of the ESCOs to determine the appropriateness of the pricing..  As part of the contractual process, the ESCOs must include a provision for monitoring and verification of utility savings and any guaranteed operational savings. This is a multi year contract that will result in the saving of millions of dollars over many years and the reduction of a significant amount of carbon dioxide (estimated to reach 300,000 tons annually).