By By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS - Cass County, like individual homeowners, is exploring ways to pinch pennies and make limited tax dollars stretch farther on escalating energy bills.
Except it's much more than pennies for a county.
Cass spent $234,767 on energy over the past year, including 65 percent for electricity ($153,290) and $81,477 for natural gas (35 percent).
Annual utility costs, broken down show, it costs $46,428 to power the County Building (1899 courthouse at 120 N. Broadway), $4,317 for the Health Department (201 M-62), $12,395 for the Animal Control shelter (323 M-62), $92,116 for the Sheriff's Office/jail (321 M-62) and $79,511 for the Law and Courts Building, 60296 M-62.
John Anderson, an energy management consultant for Rebuild Michigan Energy Services, a program of the state Department of Labor and Economic Growth Energy Office in Lansing, found &#8221excellent potential for energy savings“; by performing an introductory energy evaluation (IEE).
His audit consists of utility data and an Aug. 16 walk-through inspection of the five buildings.Some suggested savings from cutting consumption would cost next to nothing to implement, such as adjusting heating and cooling temperatures. Maintenance Supervisor Dave Dickey said, for example, that lowering the thermostat from 76 to 72 degrees could translate into more than 30-percent savings.
Others savings will be much pricier to implement.
Anderson concluded the county's greatest opportunities for savings appear to be T8 fluorescent lighting (with electronic ballasts), variable frequency drives (VFDs), day-night heating temperature controls and a high-efficiency boiler system.
T8 fluorescent lamps, powered by electronic ballasts, use 30 to 40 percent less energy than standard T12 fluorescent lamps.
Four-foot lamps have a third longer life than eight-foot lengths. Besides energy efficiency, T8s provide higher-quality illumination and better color rendition. There is no detectable flicker that standard fixtures often exhibit.
Energy conservtion opportunities, or ECOs, that can readily be implemented by Dickey's staff include water heater tank and pipe insulation, a timer for the water heating circulator pump and cogged V-belts.
Occupancy sensors can control lighting, operating whenever someone is within the scanned area and shutting off when motion can no longer be detected. The report evaluates 23 ECOs, plus such future possibilities as roof insulation. Dickey guided Anderson on a tour of the county's mechanical equipment, HVAC systems, temperature controls and lighting.
Cass County's next step under the Rebuild Michigan program would be to hire an engineering firm to conduct the TEA.
Two types of analysis are available. One is a full-scale Comprehensive Technical Energy Analysis (CTEA) or a Limited Component Technical Energy Analysis (LCTEA).
Anderson advised the county that a CTEA is necessary if it wants to implement multiple and/or complex ECOs and is the one he recommends for Cass County.
He said the LCTEA, while less costly, would restrict the analysis to particular recommendations, such as T8 fluorescent lighting or VFDs.
Anderson said a professional engineer can best determine the cost, savings and payback for any number of combinations of ECOs through a (CTEA). If a CTEA is beyond what Cass would like to pursue at this time, an individual ECO can be addressed through the simpler (LCTEA). Assistance in hiring a qualified engineering to conduct a TEA and arranging the funding for implementation of ECOs is available through Rebuld Michigan Energy Services. Michigan's energy office would review the TEA, provide feedback and monitor utility bills for one year after project completion.
Troubleshooting would also be provided if savings are lower than expected.
There are 51 consulting firms pre-qualified to perform TEAs for a cost under Rebuild Michigan Energy Services. Cost varies depending on the consulting firm and type of analysis, CTEA or LCTEA.
Anderson suggested seeking bids from three to five firms from the list. A request for proposals (RFP) template is available to streamline the bidding process.
Analyzing monthly utility bills, Anderson calculated an Energy Use Index, or EUI, in Btu per square foot per year for each building, combining consumption of natural gas and electricity.
EUIs (Btu/square foot/per year, with the average for similar buildings in parantheses) include:
The Sheriff's Office/jail, 217,965 (167,366).
Animal Control, 136,030 (164,391).
County Building, 104,433 (88,221).
Law and Courts, 89,955 (100,159).
Health Department, 50,187 (88,221).