Wauwatosa Fire Department Headquarters:
Energy Efficiency in Abundance in this Urban Fire Department

Sustainable design features enabled the City to obtain numerous grants from several energy agencies.

While the new station boasts more engine bays, comfortable amenities and much more space the real story behind this Fire House is the energy efficiency.

Design elements include:

• 17% to 22% of all electrical power is generated on site through Solar Photovoltaic power. This reduces the building footprint by 10 metric tons of Co2 every year.
•  Solar Panels are utilized to generate hot water for the building, 528 therms of natural gas saved each year; a 25% reduction in energy use.
• Through the use of Daylight Harvesting monitors and lighting controls, electrical use is reduced by 33% to 44% in the large Apparatus Bays.
• 1.7 GPM showerheads are specified rather than 2.5 GPM; creating about a 30% water savings.
• WE Energies and the Focus on Energy program provided various grants and rebates with the assistance of our electrical engineers. This process paid for 50% of the Solar Energy System and 75% of the Solar Hot Water System.