For about a dozen years the state of Connecticut has been trying to cut emissions in the buildings it owns. Originally called Lead By Example, it morphed into GreenerGov, the result of an executive order by Gov. Lamont in 2019, which was then strengthened by another executive order in 2021.
The state’s effort now includes benchmarking — the industry term for figuring out what your emissions are so you can then figure out how to reduce them.
Ryan Ensling, an associate research analyst with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the state uses a web-based platform to track utility information to see energy performance levels and greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings — many of which have been benchmarked.
“We have about over 500 buildings benchmarked that we’re able to get really great data for,” he said. A couple dozen have already had energy audits, which gets them in the pipeline for energy-saving retrofits next year.
GreenerGov tracks the progress, but with only a couple of years of data so far, plus the aberration of the pandemic, it’s hard to tell how successful it’s been.
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