Nine Louisville, Kentucky, facilities received awards from the Louisville Energy Alliance as part of its annual Kilowatt Crackdown Challenge. The city-wide competition challenges building owners and operators to decrease energy use in their buildings to fight climate change while cutting operating costs.
La Quinta del Sol of Louisville East received the year’s top honor for superior achievement in energy efficiency and renewable energy. This new hotel construction minimized the amount of needed energy by using tankless water heaters coupled with low-flow/high-velocity water fixtures, LED lighting, Energy Star-certified appliances, and motion sensors to shut systems off when unoccupied. The building also generates a significant portion of its electricity from rooftop solar panels and microturbines. Free, onsite electric vehicle charging units were installed for guests.
Additional buildings received awards:
“The combined efforts of the award winners have realized a savings of 2,972 metric tons of carbon dioxide. That’s equivalent to over 330,000 gallons of gasoline consumed in a year,” says Julie Donna, the alliance's vice chair. “We applaud these building owners who have exhibited a commitment to the health of our community.”
In April, hundreds of scientists at the United Nations intergovernmental panel on climate Change released their Climate Change 2022 Report, which states that “rapid and deep” cuts to carbon emissions are required to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
