SPECIAL EVENTS

On Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10 PM Houstonians will turn out their lights for the Third Annual LightsOut Houston event to help the Energy Capital become the Energy Conservation Capital. Join us. Go Smart. Go Dark. 

The "Energy Capital of the World" has made a sustained commitment to become the "Energy Conservation Capital" by turning off the lights on April 23, 2010. LightsOutHouston started in 2008 as a city-wide commitment to energy efficiency by commercial building owners and their tenants. The goal of the program has expanded to establish a sustained reduction in the use of non-essential electricity by all buildings throughout the Greater Houston area.

Top property owners and their tenants, in conjunction with the Greater Houston Partnership, the City of Houston, Central Houston, Inc. and CenterPoint Energy, announced the launch of “LightsOut Houston.” The program is a commitment to energy efficiency and includes wide participation by building owners and their tenants. The goal of the program is to establish a sustained reduction in the use of non-essential electricity in commercial buildings. Participating property owners and tenants signed a pledge of their commitment to energy conservation.

Over 104.8 million square feet (36.6 million square feet in downtown) and 100 companies participated in this conservation and awareness initiative. Data was collected and evaluated to determine the initial impact of the program and results can be viewed here. The initial LightsOutHouston weekend showed a total savings of about $55,000 or 495,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power 35 homes for a year.

Participating property owners and managers are adopting varied energy efficiency measures and operating procedures as a result of this initiative including:

* adjusting hours of janitorial staff
* training janitorial staff to turn off lights as work is completed
* resetting lighting control systems
* reviewing lighting schedules
* asking vendors and tenants to turn off lights when not in office
* reducing hours on interior and exterior lighting systems

LightsOutHouston is committed to the goal of saving energy by encouraging individuals to turn off non-essential electricity.

Security lighting, any obstruction lighting, emergency lighting and lights in occupied offices will remain lit.

When: Friday, April 23, 2010 at 10PM

Where: Houston's Downtown and other areas of Greater Houston

Who: All Class A, B and C office buildings in downtown and all government-owned buildings (excludes hotels, streetlights, etc).

Why:

1. To raise awareness among office building operators and tenants to go LIGHTS OUT when the office is not occupied.
2. To develop operating procedures, by the property owners and tenants, that change today's lighting habits, including working with janitorial service companies and building security to implement procedures to turn off lights when personnel is not present.
3. To establish a sustained reduction in the use of non-essential electricity in commercial buildings. The downtown area has approximately 35 million square feet of office space. It is estimated that by eliminating just 50% of the lights routinely left on overnight and on the weekends, we can save 8.4M KW-Hours annually. That equals to almost $1 million annually. This is enough energy to power more than 600 Houston area homes for a year!
4. To change Houstonians' habits at home by also remembering to turn off lights.

If you are interested in participating, please sign the pledge or email us at lightsout@houston.org.