The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles has saved more than $300,000 a year on its energy bills since it upgraded its Broad Street headquarters through a contract that leaders there initially thought was too good to be true.

“It sounded to me like a lottery scam email,” DMV Deputy Commissioner David Mitchell said Wednesday of the contract that essentially uses the energy savings to pay for the upgrades. “It was, in fact, a way for us to do things we’d never been able to afford to do.”

Mitchell was among a group that led dignitaries and elected officials on a tour of the building’s upgraded skeleton, from the heating and air system to the windows and elevators. Trane, the contractor that performed the work, guaranteed the DMV would see at least $284,000 in annual savings. And if the agency didn’t, Trane would owe the DMV the difference.

Read the full story. (Richmond Times Dispatch)