Ronald M. George State Office Complex — San Francisco
Civic Center

Verified Annual Savings: $0.7MM and 16,139 MBTU

Project Highlights

  • 38% reduction in annual energy consumption

  • Installation of new open-source building control system in place of the facility’s proprietary solution

  • Whole-building (Option C) Measurement & Verification (M&V) using utility meters showed that measured savings from the project exceeded guaranteed savings by $180K or 33%

Energy Conservation Measures

  • LED Lighting

  • Cooling Tower Controls Upgrades

  • Demand Response Program

  • Occupancy Control of Lighting

  • Hot Water Pump Recommissioning

  • RCx Economizer & Building Pressurization Controls

 

Background: In 2017, CEG was contracted to implement an ESPC at the San Francisco Civic Center (SFCC). The historic two-building office complex encompasses a full city block in downtown San Francisco. SFCC houses the California State Supreme Court, as well as the Judicial Council of California, the Administrative Office of the Courts, auditoriums, cafeterias, data centers, and numerous office and administrative facilities serving a variety of other State offices and agencies.

Key Challenges:

  • Historic facilities: The Earl Warren Building was constructed in 1922 and is designated as historic.

  • Previous renovations: The Hiram M. Johnson State Office Building was constructed relatively recently in 1998, at which time HVAC and lighting upgrades were also made to the historic Earl Warren building.

  • Nonfunctional controls system: The facility’s existing controls system was outdated and largely inoperable, such that simple controls changes required extensive upgrades.

  • Secure, uninterruptible operations: Because the complex includes the headquarters for the California State Supreme Court and other critical government operations, all work needed to be completed after hours without impacting building operations.

  • Requirement for Option C M&V: The client required savings to be measured and verified based upon the actual change in usage at the building’s utility meters.

Our Solution:

CEG designed a comprehensive set of 11 energy conservation measures to renew infrastructure, reduce energy and water usage, address long-term challenges with the existing control system, and reduce operating costs. We employed 315 sensors/loggers along with cellular modems for real-time collection of data and analyzed 16.1 million data points. This data allowed CEG to develop custom control solutions and implement demand response load shifting. Our solution leveraged the new EMS to support more advanced controls strategies and drive deeper savings. Though the requested Option C M&V approach is often technically challenging, it was simplified through enhanced EMS trending. Moreover, the significant expected energy savings were readily verifiable directly from SFCC’s energy bills.