Notice:  During the summer of 2011, the Arlington County Department of Environmental Services will install 250 solar panels on the roof of the Central Library.  View our fact sheet to learn more about the Central Library Solar Panel Installation. 

Arlington County Central Library, originally built in 1961 and expanded in 1994, is a multi-storied 131,000 square foot building (including garage) open for over 80 hours per week. Central Library is the primary resource for the County library system, and one of the largest public library collections in Metro DC. Its energy use runs the typical heating, cooling, ventilation (HVAC), lighting, and water heating equipment associated with any commercial building, as well as a robust public access computer center and office equipment for staff use.

Our Improvements

In 2000, Central Library used 2,769,440 kWh of electricity. This energy use carried a heavy environmental burden, equating to over 1,500 metric tons of CO2e. The County’s energy management program began in earnest in 2001, making a series of adjustments to the building automation system and some  lighting upgrades. As a result, electricity use fell to 2,350,540 kWh in 2001, and eventually to 1,754,320 in 2009.

Once the Fresh AIRE program was launched in 2007, the energy management team returned to Central Library and invested in additional lighting retrofits. We retrofitted all fluorescent fixtures from T12 lamps with magnetic ballasts to T8 lamps with electronic ballasts, replaced high-wattage indirect pendant fixtures with T8 fluorescent pendant fixtures, and replaced all incandescent lamps with either compact fluorescent or LED lights. We also upgraded auditorium lighting to dimmable LED downlights. The building’s HVAC controls continue to be finetuned, and we are investigating the replacement of several electric tank water heaters with instant-hot fixtures at various sinks. In 2011, solar photovoltaic panels will be added to Central Library's roof to help shave the 'peak demand' at this facility and save even more money. We are proud that in 2010, electricity consumption was down to 1,708,560 kWh, a 38% decline from ten years ago! The improvements made since 2007 cost $118,269 and are saving over $57,000 per year in electricity costs, a payback of just over two years.

Value to the County

Overall, the reduction in electricity from 2000 to 2010—1,060,880 kWh per year— is saving the County over $90,000 in avoided electricity costs and preventing nearly 580 metric tons of CO2e from being released due to electricity production. This would be the same as taking 400 cars off the road or planting nearly 15,000 trees.

How Do We Rate?

When we benchmark this building against a nationwide sample of libraries, we found that in 2010 Central Library used slightly less energy than its peers. We look forward to seeing out how this building performs in 2011!

Follow Our Lead

Many businesses and commercial properties in Arlington still have older lighting like the T12 lamps we retrofitted. Lighting retrofits and upgrades can pay for themselves quickly, and state and federal incentives are also emerging to help pay for such energy improvements. Check the AIRE website for more information.

Learn about the energy consumption of our entire portfolio by visiting our Building Energy Report Cards on the AIRE website, http://www.arlingtonva.us/aire

View the complete Central Library Case Study.