Watt Plaza Maintains Their LEED Platinum Certification and Continues to Set the Bar High
LABBC CASE STUDY
PROPERTY OWNER
1875/1925 Century Park East Company LLC
PROPERTY TYPE
Office
SQUARE FEET
904,927
Sponsoring Organizations
3.4%
Energy Reduction in 2019
95
Energy Star Score
2020 Innovation Awards: Energy Project of the Year Finalist
“Be patient and pay attention to detail. Hang in there and make sure you have a good relationship with your representative at the LADWP who is there to help you achieve your efficiency goals. Never stop asking the question what else can we do to save and use less energy. Be willing and open minded to new technologies and get educated so you can educate your tenant base. Push your team to constantly think of how to be better or the best leaders and innovators in efficiency. Have a limitless not limited approach to efficiency.”
CAMERON BENSON
General Manager, Watt Companies
CHALLENGE
Watt Plaza’s management team is dedicated to maintaining LEED Platinum certification and all projects align with maintaining this goal, which sets a high bar and requires continuous improvement. Watt also supports alternative energy resources by purchasing renewables, in line with the company’s goals of offsetting energy usage.
To manage energy costs and their associated environmental impact, the Watt team set a goal of 100 percent LED lighting for their Watt Plaza property and selected a specific bulb with tenant satisfaction in mind. Watt Plaza is a nearly fully leased Class A office, so any upgrades to the property needed to be carefully planned and executed to minimize tenant disruption. While executing this project, Watt faced challenges related to operations and bulb availability.
STRATEGY
Watt Plaza worked closely with United Energy Strategies to meticulously test and assess lightbulb options in order to select bulbs that would maximize tenant comfort and satisfaction, while also analyzing efficiency and cost savings. Additionally, while the process of a LED retrofit in a busy Class A office building posed a challenge in potentially disturbing tenants, Watt prioritized clear and transparent communication to help smooth the transition and keep tenants satisfied.
Watt has a hand in hand relationship with the LADWP meeting annually with their representative and communicating throughout the year to stay up to date on rebate program offerings. When Watt’s representative advised that LADWP was offering a rebate for LED retrofitting, the team jumped at the opportunity to move closer to their goal of a 100 percent LED building.
Throughout the project, Watt clearly and consistently defined the goal of tenant comfort and satisfaction post retrofit, along with kWh reduction and cost savings.
Additionally, Watt installed a separate electrical meter for their 22 EV charging stations to better monitor electrical usage and track tenant participation.
IMPACT
This project resulted in annual energy and cost savings of 409,247 kWh and $73,665 at Watt Plaza. Participation in LADWP’s Demand Response and LED retrofit rebate program maximized the net project investment of $89,968 and helped achieve an eleven-month payback. This project also furthers Watt Plaza’s goal to maintain it’s LEED Platinum status and high ENERGY STAR score of 95.
Lastly, the separate EV metering enabled Watt to better track tenant use of charging stations and informed it’s tenant outreach efforts.
