In honor of Earth Day, Muskegon Area Transit System (MATS) was declared “The Biggest Loser” at the first annual Michigan Battle of the Buildings Award Ceremony and Energy Summit. The event was held in the Ambassador Ballroom at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, April 22, 2015.
Presented by US Green Buildings Council of West Michigan, the challenge was described as "an energy reduction war," "a crusade against kilowatts," and "a barrage against BTUs." The goal: to discover Michigan businesses who were serious about energy optimization and the elimination of energy waste in their buildings.
MATS was deemed "The Biggest Loser" in the Public Buildings category by saving 9% on energy usage (both gas and electric) by: 1) reducing the heat in the bus garage by 2 degrees, 2) installing light motion sensors in some offices, 3) changing some lighting timers, and 4) closing the garage doors as much as possible.
“The County of Muskegon and Muskegon Area Transit System are continually striving to develop new, innovative ways to save energy and reduce energy costs in its facilities,” said Bob Lukens, community development director for Muskegon County. “This award demonstrates the County’s ongoing efforts to establish a sustainable community dedicated to reducing costs and helping to create a cleaner environment.”
MATS was an early adopter of heavy-duty Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses in its fleet, with approximately half of MATS buses fueled by CNG. Muskegon County has also implemented an in-house office recycling program, significantly diverting paper and plastic from the waste stream.
There were seven different categories in the competition based on industry. Sara Damm, Sustainability Coordinator for Muskegon County, entered three facilities in the Public Buildings competition: Michael E. Kobza Hall of Justice, Health West’s Mental Health Center, and Muskegon Area Transit System’s Administration and Louis A. McMurray Conference Center. The three other facilities competing in the category included Spring Lake District Library, White Lake Community Library, and the City of Grand Rapids Wastewater Treatment Plant which took second place with a 2 percent reduction.
Damm stated, “I entered these three facilities because they were large facilities, the data was readily available to track, and collecting baseline information was the main focus of this challenge. I also became interested in the Battle because, by entering, Muskegon County would receive free baseline data modeling by Consumers Energy for all other County facilities via the EnergyStar Portfolio Manager.” Damm worked with Consumers Energy to collect and model the County facilities not in the competition to collect baseline information. As Damm said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Now all Muskegon County facilities can start implementing energy-savings programs to help reduce their energy use and costs.
Surprisingly, MATS was able to implement this savings with hardly any increase in cost. Muskegon County is moving forward with installing LEDs in all of its buildings to follow up on the savings MATS has gained.
Combined total of energy saved by all (across all 7 categories) who participated - 1,149.6 tons of CO2 - which equates to:
- Carbon sequestered by 942 acres of U.S. forests in 1 year
- Greenhouse gas emissions from 2,737,143 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle
- CO2 emissions of 1,234,801 pounds of coal burned
MATS operates fixed route and on-demand bus transportation throughout Muskegon County.
