FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

High-performance facility to serve as a model for zero-energy building across the West

SALT LAKE CITY– June 5, 2024 – Utah Clean Energy and the community at large celebrated the grand opening of the Climate Innovation Center, one of the most high-performance buildings in the nation and a hub for local climate action. The state-of-the-art facility raises the bar for buildings in Utah and beyond, highlighting the opportunity to modernize our homes and buildings to cut emissions and combat climate change.

Special guest speakers Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall, Scott Anderson, Chairman of the Zions Bank Advisory Board, Joel Ferry, Executive Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Catherine Raney-Norman with the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, all joined the event to help open the Climate Innovation Center.

“At Utah Clean Energy, we believe that addressing climate change starts at home, and with the opening of our Climate Innovation Center, we are proud to lead by example,” said Sarah Wright, CEO of Utah Clean Energy. “This is a living laboratory and teaching tool for the public and the business community demonstrating the tremendous role that buildings have in solving climate change.”

Located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, the Climate Innovation Center breathes new life into a once dilapidated 50-year-old building. The center showcases the potential of what our homes and buildings can be —spaces that are not only comfortable and inviting but also produce zero pollution. The building offers a space dedicated to learning, exploration and collaboration centered on climate solutions and improving local air quality –a place for the community to engage and create solutions to the challenges we face. 

“We must build a more sustainable, resilient city and state,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “As we combat the effects of climate change, I’m anxious for residents and businesses to learn and adopt energy efficiencies and solutions from Utah Clean Energy—centered right in the heart of our downtown core.”

The building meets some of the most rigorous high-performance standards in the nation. Standard buildings account for staggering amounts of greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, but the Climate Innovation Center is built to achieve “zero-energy” standards. This means it is so energy efficient that its on-site solar power, coupled with battery storage, will provide all of the building’s energy needs. Furthermore, the building operates without natural gas, eliminating the need for fossil fuels.

The Climate Innovation Center is a recipient of a Rocky Mountain Power Blue Sky Grant, which supported the rooftop solar installation complete with a solar canopy and battery storage. 

The center will serve as headquarters for Utah Clean Energy as well as a dynamic community and education space for climate convenings, conversations and action. Throughout the renovation, Utah Clean Energy and its building partners have documented all of the steps to achieve zero energy and will utilize the building and a dedicated website as a teaching tool to make it easy for others to follow suit.

“As we confront the urgent challenges posed by climate change, the need for bold, innovative solutions has never been greater,” said Wright. “With the Climate Innovation Center, we demonstrate that solutions are already at hand; we have what we need to lay the groundwork for a healthy, sustainable, and resilient future for generations to come.”

More information about the building’s zero energy design and the nine steps to achieving zero energy can be found at www.climateinnovationcenter.org

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About Utah Clean Energy

Utah Clean Energy is a solution-based, bipartisan organization that has been successfully driving transformative change for a healthy climate for over 20 years.  They are recognized as Utah’s foremost experts on expanding renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, and clean vehicles in a way that is beneficial not only for Utah’s environment and health, but our economy and long-term energy security. Utah Clean Energy is committed to creating a future that ensures healthy, thriving communities for all, empowered and sustained by clean energies. For more information visit www.utahcleanenergy.org.