O'Malley Wants Online Counting of Energy Use for City-Owned Buildings

With an impassioned speech, City Councilor Matt O'Malley asked modern questions about some non-modern buildings, offering an idea that could save taxpayer money.

"The building we’re in right now - was built more than 40 years ago... ever wonder how much energy it takes to keep this place running? Libraries, schools, police and fire stations. Some are newer with upgraded technologies. How energy efficient are they? How much does it cost to keep the lights on?" asked O'Malley during Wednesday's City Council meeting.

"We can’t put up new buildings overnight, but we can change behavior. Turning off lights, timing vending machines or elevators - I am asking the city to create an online registry to track and report energy use in municipal buildings," said O'Malley.

District 6's Boston City Councilor said Austin, Texas, New York City, as well as California and Washington, offer online annual energy consumption of certain buildings. Philadelphia has created publicly-stated water and energy use marks, which he said are "good ways to save money and be environemtnally friendly."

"Benchmarking helps with behavior. We can add up to 5% energy costs without refitting (current buildings). This can be implemented with pennies. There are already online energy tools. This is a simple thing we can be doing and save taxpayer money," said O'Malley.

O'Malley added this is a similar idea to his  

The ordinance was referred to the Committee on Environment for a future hearing.