Miami-Dade County celebrates the winners of its "Power It Down" Challenge at the Richard E. Gerstein Courthouse

(MIAMI, November 6, 2012) – Miami-Dade County Office of Sustainability (OOS), along with Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin, acknowledged the efforts of the Clerks and the Courts to reduce energy consumption at the Richard E. Gerstein (REG) Courthouse during the six-week “Power It Down” Challenge at an event held in the REG on November 2, 2012.

Funded by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), “Power It Down” was a behavioral campaign for employees at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center (SPCC) and REG Courthouse. The goal of the campaign was to effect lasting behavioral changes among employees that result in long term reductions of energy consumption in County buildings. The campaign offered a fun way to instill these changes through healthy competition.  In the REG building the Courts competed against the Clerks; while in the SPCC, floors competed against each other. 

To launch the campaign, OOS oversaw the installation of accounting and energy management software and equipment (meters/sub-meters) and building dashboard interfaces.  In addition, OOS secured the installation of television sets throughout the SPCC and REG. The television sets were installed as a way to display the dashboards containing consumption data for each facility and to present green tips, news, and information to employees and visitors.  

Based on the data collected, the winners of the REG were the Clerks, while at SPCC the 26th floor was deemed the winning floor.  Savings over the six weeks totaled 7,561.34 kWh.  Together, the energy conserved was equivalent to powering a 3-bedroom house in Miami Dade County for 176 days or to powering 581,642 compact fluorescent light bulbs for one hour.

Pictured above: Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin; Ricky Schechtman Sill, Sr. Deputy, Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts; Patricia Gomez, Sustainability Program Manager, Office of Sustainability; and, employees from the Richard E. Gerstein Courthouse.

For more information, visit http://green.miamidade.gov or call 305-375-3008.