Detroit is going green in many ways, so it is very fitting that two of its landmark public buildings will be getting "energy conservation makeovers" with the help of federal SmartBuilding funds being managed by the Economic Development Corporation. The regional authority that manages Cobo Convention Center is planning a $21 million energy saving construction program, and the authority that manages Coleman A. Young Municipal Center for the city and county is planning a $17 million energy conservation retrofit. The SmartBuilding Detroit program will contribute $2.48 million to the Cobo Center effort and $1.3 million to the Coleman Young Center. Together, the improvements at both facilities are expected to generate $1.8 million annually in savings.

At Coleman Municipal Center, the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority plans to replace all the windows with triple-pane energy-efficient glass, install a green roof with sedum beds, replace an aging air conditioning water chiller, upgrade lighting and make other energy-saving improvements. The upgrades are projected to generate a 60% annual savings in energy bills and other costs, or about $900,000. Work is expected to start early next year.

At Cobo Center, the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority expects to upgrade the roof insulation, install high-efficiency lighting and escalators, enclose a loading dock and make other energy-saving improvements. The Authority projects it will also save about $900,000 per year, or about 12.5% of its energy bills and related maintenance costs. 

In both cases, grant funds will be matched by money raised by the sale of bonds. The SmartBuilding Detroit energy conservation program is funded by $10 million of a $30 million American Resource and Recovery Act grant to the State of Michigan and a number of its partners. These two projects demonstrate how Detroit is both committed to conserving energy as well as developing and building new technologies to produce energy.