At the direction of City Manager Milton Dohoney, OEQ recently formed an interdepartmental Energy Management Team (EMT)

The objectives of this team will be to develop both a short
and long-term energy management plan that focuses on
reducing utility and fuel usage, promoting conservation
and saving costs. This team will also draft a city-wide policy on energy efficiency.

The EMT is looking at energy reduction opportunities that have already been identified in several departments to see if there is an opportunity to duplicate their successes elsewhere. In addition the team will determine what other cities similar to Cincinnati are doing to see what can be learned from them and look at all available energy assistance programs.

The City of Cincinnati will partner with entities such as the Ohio Department of Development's Office of Energy Efficiency to determine what resources and technical assistance they can bring to the table.

Energy Management Pilot Project

The Business Development and Permit Center (Center) located on Central Parkway has volunteered to participate in an energy conservation pilot project. The goal of the project is to reduce the amount of energy used within the facility by 5% through the voluntary actions of facility employees.

The Center has chosen “You Have the Power” as their slogan for this pilot project. The Center plans to achieve its 5% reduction goal by challenging its employees to simply think about how they use electricity on a daily basis and to identify ways to incorporate energy conservation methods within their work environment. Employees are being encouraged to turn off lights when not in use, set copiers, fax machines, computers, printers, and other equipment to “sleep” mode, and eliminate or limit the use of convenience items such as personnel space heaters, radios, coffee makers, coffee warmers, mini refrigerators, etc., as much as possible.

On September 12, 2007, the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ) and Buildings and Inspections conducted a training session to help educate the Center’s employees on the importance of energy conservation and also demonstrated simple way in which everyone can do their part in helping the Center achieve its goal. Employees will be supplied with the tools needed, i.e., insulated mugs, lamp timers, compact fluorescent light bulbs for task lights, in order to meet their energy reduction goal by December, 2007.