Battle of the Buildings | Video

Jennifer Joas | 8/17/2012

It`s not only about saving on energy costs, but now it`s become a competition. The William Lewis Guy Federal Building in Bismarck is in a nationwide EPA competition to save on energy costs.

Maintenance crews have changed over lighting in the corridors to LED lights, have motion activated lighting and an automatic shutoff for the building. They also replaced more than 70 windows on the north side of the building, put recycle bins at each employee`s desk and have their sprinklers automatically shut off if it`s raining.

"Seeing how much we get that is recycled, speaks volumes of, `Why wouldn`t you?` So if we get that much and those offices obviously produce about the same amount, it amounts to a great deal," said Office Manager Eileen Wehri.

The competition runs all year long and so far the federal building has saved 17 percent on electric and gas costs.

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