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Energy Conservation
& Efficiency for Municipalities

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E-mail Received by PQA

PQA's Response

E-Mail Received by PQA from a Municipality

Here is an e-mail I received from a municipality in Ontario Canada about saving energy, followed by my response:

Subject: Website Inquiry_Energy Incentives
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 10:03:18 -0500
To: <XXXXXXXX@pqa.net>

We are a small Township and want to find out if there is grants to help us retrofit our buildings (Twp. office, library, arena, fitness centre, public works garage, etc) with energy efficient lights and thermostats.
 

Can you email me details of any programs that will help in this regard?
 

Mr. xxxx xxxxxxxx
Deputy Treasurer
Township of xxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone XXX-XXX-XXXX
Fax XXX-XXX-XXXX
email: XXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX.XXX

 

PQA's Response

Here is my answer to the municipality's inquiry about energy conservation & government subsidies:

Dear XXXX:

There are programs for this, Federal, provincial, municipal (funded by Feds/Provs), and your energy suppliers (funded by Feds/Prov). Try NRCAN, Dept. Environment, Ont. MOE, Hydro1, etc.

Here is one list of some Canadian funding programs:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/incitatifs-incentives/index_eng.asp?lang=en&jurisdiction=10&actionArea=0&keyword=&submit=Search

How did you decide you need to focus on lights & thermostats?

Propane is up 28%/yr, furnace oil is up 16%/yr, electricity is $0.15/kW-hr & will be rising quickly soon enough, diesel prices have gone way past gasoline (a rare occurrence), crude has gone from $70/bbl to $100+/bbl in 2 years, etc. We only have 6 year supply of proven natural gas supplies left in Canada at current consumption rates (and propane comes from our nat. gas, so we have 6 yrs of propane left). What are you going to do if/when it runs out? What will the prices be like when we have to import LNG from the Middle East? You think you have a problem now?

Setback thermostats are cheap & quick, and can give some benefits if used properly. Space heating is often 50% of the total energy consumption for a building. Lights however are less that 4% of total energy consumption for a typical building.

However arenas, for example, suck huge amounts of energy for ice/HVAC. For a small % improvement in one small part of one arena, you can run the lights 24/7/365 for free throughout the municipality.

If you want to keep taxes down, I would suggest that energy conservation/efficiency can be a job creator, as well as a profit centre for the municipality (ie. for every dollar you spend to improve, you make many more $ savings). Energy conservation/efficiency increases your wealth and infrastructure capabilities.

I suggest the main question is:

If you were to spend $X this year for energy conservation/efficiency, where would be the very best place to spend it?

That's where we come in. We help you answer that question.

To answer that question, you need to do a preliminary energy audit for all of your Municipally owned/controlled assets (all buildings, all functions, all energy supplies).

Next you need to compare your current systems to the feasible solutions available, the cost to implement, and the savings these solutions can generate over their expected life. There is no sense worrying about a large energy consumption when you have the best & most energy efficient method for running it.

Taking the potential savings, dividing it by the cost to implement, looking at the risk, and you can decide the relative priorities for the various projects/opportunities.

Sorting in order of priority, you do a running total on the cost to implement each opportunity. Council decides how many $ they have available to invest, multiplied by the Fed/Prov/Mun/Util subsidy ratio, you get the total available $ to implement. Starting at the top of the list, you move down the list until you have reached your maximum budget. You now have your project list for the next year.

Adjust the list for what's funded & what's not for the various projects, make the applications, and when approved, you get started.

Add to all of the above a communication and sensitization program for Mun. employees & citizens to build awareness & acceptance of the changing realities. Of course, this starts with reduction (stop doing useless or low value, high consumption tasks).

For example, yesterday I was at an organization who was complaining about their $6,000/month electric bill. On touring their facility, I saw numerous work stations unoccupied where IR heaters were on full blast, doors wide open to the outside, -5 deg C outside. I got the impression the heaters and lights ran continuously, whether somebody was there or not. Multiply this 1,000 times over, and you have a lot of energy used with little benefit.

Getting your citizens involved, the Municipality can be the catalyst to everybody getting involved. Group projects will get you a discount of up to 40% off retail pricing from some/most equipment suppliers. Add 50% Fed/Prov. funding, and you only have to kick in ~30% of the retail cost. Local trades, students, etc. can get a job helping to implement the group projects. The entire municipality gets a lift. You turn a negative situation (rising energy pricing) into a significant benefit for your municipality.

Where do you want to go from here? I may be going to XXXXXXXX sometime in the next 4 weeks. If you wanted to get started, I could come and help you get started at that time. If you want, give me a call to discuss.

Glenn Black P.Eng. CQE CQA
President
Process Quality Associates Inc.
http://www.pqa.net (800)-837-7046
"We Engineer the Quality of Your Success"
Phone/Fax (705)-377-4039
Cell (705)-348-2229

 
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