On behalf of the Carbon Lighthouse Association, Yiaway Yeh, mayor of the city of Palo Alto, awarded Bob Stevens, the owner of Stevens Development Company, a plaque for making his buildings Carbon Free. The presentation took place during the mayor’s address at the Downtown Palo Alto Business Improvement District’s (PAd) Clean Green Street Scene Earth Day event Friday, April 20th. Mayor Yeh congratulated Mr. Stevens for his environmental leadership and expressed his hope that this achievement will be an example for the rest of the building owners in the city.

Stevens Development Company, the owner and manager of three Downtown Palo Alto office buildings, completed a project with Carbon Lighthouse to reduce energy and eliminate the buildings’ entire carbon footprint.

Carbon Lighthouse completed a comprehensive energy study at the buildings, including taking over 230,000 data measurements on the cooling and heating equipment. They identified energy efficiency improvements requiring no major capital equipment, and the opportunity for a solar PV installation. After installation of the measures this month, energy use at the buildings will be reduced by 12%. A portion of the utility bill savings will be donated to Carbon Lighthouse Association, an independent non-profit, to offset the remainder of the buildings’ carbon footprints through verifiable carbon allowances.

All three buildings have also been certified by Energy Star, a government program that recognizes buildings with energy usage far below the national average.

“Stevens Development Company is a true leader in the buildings community,” said Carbon Lighthouse President Raphael Rosen. “They have always been conscientious about managing their buildings in a way that benefits their tenants, their community, and the environment. Carbon Lighthouse is proud to make these historic buildings more efficient and completely carbon neutral, all while lowering operating costs.”

“Carbon Lighthouse was extremely helpful in analyzing our buildings to come up with the most cost-effective upgrades to improve energy efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint,” said owner Bob Stevens. “We expect an excellent return on the more than $120,000 being invested in equipment upgrades and a new photovoltaic system.”