Energy Conservation

Increased focus on energy conservation resulted in a 7 percent decrease in energy use at Sky Harbor in one year, an 11.2 million pound reduction in greenhouse gases, a savings of more than 7 million kilowatt hours and more than $200,000. Click here to read more about how energy conservation is paying off

The Airport recently received more than $250,000 in rebates from the local utility for upgrades to a terminal chiller system and a building design that increased use of natural light while reducing solar intrusion.

Some of the many energy conservation programs implemented include:

• Installed controls to turn off electric lights during the daylight hours.
• Installed air conditioning controls in the Operations and Facilities & Services buildings.
• Instituted thermostat and temperature sensor settings per ASHRAE guidelines.
• Shut down redundant vertical transportation equipment during the night time hours.
• Several older, less energy efficient cooling units were replaced, resulting in reductions of energy used and the greenhouse gases emitted from local utility power plants.
• The Aviation Department was chosen for an annual City Environmental Performance Indicator an energy reduction goal.
• Installation of skylights, built with a ‘solar tracker’ device that maximizes the sunlight brought into the building. A pilot installation of these devices is located in the north concourse of Terminal 3.
• As a result of the above were able to add 38 more lighting fixtures to the Reduced Lighting Schedule saving 14,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
• Installed a new Direct Digital Control system in Terminals 3 and 4.
• EDS Section testing results achieved a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption.
• Continued installation of occupancy sensors in offices and conference rooms.
• Changed out approximately 2,000 HID metal halide light fixtures to florescent, reducing wattage per fixture by 79 watts.
• Reduced the number of light fixtures on the Terminal 4 Boulevard by one-third and lowered remaining fixtures from 1,000 watts to 400 watts by lowering fixture height.
• Added analog photocells in Terminals 3 and 4, in the East Economy parking Garages and the Rental Car Center.
• Added lighting controls to the Terminal 2 ramp lights and gate areas and to the Terminal 4 parking garage.
• Fine-tuned lighting reduction schedule Airport wide.
• Coordinated efforts with APS and controls vendor to gather data to quantify energy conservation efforts.
• Installed five electric meters in the terminals to monitor real time energy usage.
• Installed “Data Loggers” to validate energy savings as a result of reduced lighting measures.