LAST CALL! Turn Off Your Building's Lights on Saturday, March 27th from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m for Earth Hour 2010

BOMA San Francisco Members:

Please take a moment to review the information, below, kindly provided by Mr. Hal Brownstone with Jones Lang LaSalle.  Mr. Brownstone is a BOMA San Francisco Energy and Environment Committee member and BOMA San Francisco's official representative for Earth Hour 2010 and the San Francisco 24x7 Energy Challenge.

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Earth Hour is an ongoing annual event that raises awareness of humankind’s continued and unintended negative impact on the environment.  Throughout the world, sustainability-focused operations and lifestyles are increasingly becoming standard procedure in both our personal and professional lives. Potential climate change and the reduction of natural resources continue to affect global Real Estate on a massive scale and are influencing our operational decisions on a daily basis. These decisions have both economic and life-style impacts.

BOMA San Francisco, for a third time, is participating in this year’s Earth Hour, scheduled for Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 8:30 pm until 9:30 pm, local daylight savings time.  During this hour, the goal is to turn off all non-essential interior and exterior lighting to demonstrate our continuing commitment to energy conservation and responsible resource management within the office building industry of San Francisco.

Participating in Earth Hour provides several unique benefits:

• Cost savings: tied to Building and Tenant expense reduction, Net Operating Income, Building Value, and Ownership Satisfaction
• Energy savings: tied to promoting sustainability of Earth’s natural resources, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental damage, and potential future generations
• Professional  awareness: tied to responsible daily decision making to further reduce expenses through appropriate ongoing energy saving measures and reductions
• Social awareness: tied to understanding the stewardship process of the environment through wildlife conservation and continued sustainable lifestyles  
• Embarrassment: You don’t want to be the only one NOT doing it! You do want the GOOD recognition that will come with being involved and turning your building’s lights out!

Please note that the Earth Hour 2010 event is part of a larger effort, the San Francisco 24x7 Challenge, to make everyday changes that reduce energy consumption and combat global warming.  Mayor Gavin Newsom and partner organizations--including BOMA San Francisco--have renewed the challenge to save energy in commercial buildings. The San Francisco 24x7 Challenge will identify and celebrate leaders in energy efficiency in local offices, hotels, and retail stores. Participation simply consists of benchmarking your building with a free tool, tracking energy use for one year, and saving energy bit by bit throughout the year. The Mayor will congratulate the best performing and most improved buildings for leadership in energy management. Best of all, everyone wins by participating!

Click here to learn how you can help with this new San Francisco initiative.

The SF Department of Environment and local partners PG&E, BOMA and the EPA are available to help you compete and win in the 24x7 Energy Challenge. For specific questions on how to begin or any part of the process, call Gabriella Canez (415) 355-3784.