The State of Michigan, DTMB, Jerome T. Hart Building was Awarded for the 2022 Michigan Battle of the Buildings Competition in the Water Category
The State of Michigan Jerome T. Hart Building is a 170,000 sq ft office housing the Saginaw County Human Services Department, the Lottery Bureau, and the Michigan Workers Compensation Office. The facility was named by Senate Concurrent Resolution 21 in 1995 after Saginaw’s state senator. Senator Hart served from 1965 to 1991, becoming one of the Legislature’s most senior statesmen before term limits were enacted in the early 1990s. The facility saw an overall reduction of 66.27% in the 2022 Michigan Battle of the Buildings competition.
The goal at this location was to evaluate each operational process, identify areas for improvement, and create an efficiency plan that would ultimately reduce costs. The facility has been working through an Energy Conservation Program to identify low-cost improvements or identify large-cost improvements with an accelerated return on investment. They accomplished two projects that contributed to their energy reduction, an irrigation system and cooling tower/ chiller Improvements. They made upgrades and improvements to their outside irritation system
by changing the time clock and automatic functions of the system from a scheduled run-time basis to running it on a more as-needed basis. For the cooling tower and chiller improvements, they evaluated the cooling tower water functions. They also adjusted the auto leveling settings along with chemical feed rates, decreasing the number of turnover cycles needed to safely and efficiently operate the chillers and cooling tower. The savings with the cooling tower water was huge because they store hundreds of gallons at this location. The improvements were low-cost - operational changes. The cost of all improvements and adjustments were under $3k, making the return and savings was almost immediate. Their on-site DTMB Facilities Team partnered with their DTMB Maintenance Engineering Team to outline a plan to implement low-cost improvements. The Maintenance Engineering Team launched these efforts by assigning work orders, supporting site staff with recommendations and feedback and helping to quantify energy savings.
The 66% water reduction in 2022 compared with 2021 data was well above their planned target. Overall, their goal was utility savings and efficiency. Evaluating and identifying cost saving in their processes has become standard practice with staff
We were excited to celebrate the State of Michigan, DTMB, Jerome T. Hart Building’s accomplishments in energy efficiency at our annual Michigan Energy Summit on April 18, 2023 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they were awarded in the Water Category!