The Red Rose Transit Authority (RRTA) used a $2.5 million TIGGER award to incorporate sustainable building design and efficiency improvements at their 30-year-old main operations facility in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

RRTA is employing several technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency as part of a facility expansion and complete renovation project.

The sustainable building design by CDM incorporates the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification guidelines for energy conservation, including geothermal heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; day-lighting features; photovoltaic rooftop panels; a green roof; waste oil burners; and upgraded energyefficient electrical fixtures.

After seven months, RRTA achieved a 43% reduction in electrical consumption by using day lighting, installing efficient fixtures, and placing 641 Sharp solar panels on the roof. The agency also cut its annual heating oil use to zero, by burning the roughly 3,000 gallons of waste oil it generates each year and using a geothermal system for additional heating.

These combined improvements reduced RRTA’s total energy consumption by 63%. At this rate, RRTA will cut its annual electrical consumption from 417,000 to 230,000 kWh and its annual fuel oil consumption from 7,700 gallons to zero. Over the projected 30-year lifetime of these improvements, RRTA will save more than 5.6 million kWh of  electricity and use 200,000 fewer gallons of heating oil.