By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
The city of Washington is having a detailed energy audit of eight of its public buildings conducted in an effort to make them more energy efficient.
The audit, which began earlier this week, is being performed by TAC, the building management- and energy-services division of Schneider Electric. The buildings being audited include City Hall, the Hildred T. Moore Aquatics and Fitness Center, headquarters fire station, Peterson Building, Bobby Andrews Recreation Center, Civic Center, Brown Library and the city’s communications center.
“They’re supposed to be though (with the ground work) next Wednesday or Thursday,” said Allen Lewis, the city’s public-works director, on Thursday.
The energy audit is an effective method to identify practical and fiscally viable improvements or modifications that could produce annual energy savings, according to city officials. Most of the savings come as the result of energy-efficiency measures, which in turn lead to declines in energy consumption.
“This is a win-win for Washington. There is no downside to a program that helps us reduce energy costs, reduce emissions and save taxpayers money,” said Keith Hardt, director of Washington Electric Utilities.
Until now, Washington has never had such an audit performed on its public buildings, Hardt said. Few other municipalities have set up such audits, he said.
“They are very predominant in university and community-college systems,” Hardt said.
TAC will perform the audit at a cost of $18,940, but the city will not be required to pay that amount unless TAC demonstrates a projected annual energy savings of at least $30,000 a year during a 10-year period and the city fails to enter into a guaranteed energy savings contract within 60 days of it receiving the audit.
A detailed energy audit can be separated into two stages: determining how facilities and their systems operate now and determining how they could most efficiently operate in the future, according to a news release from the city. Reducing energy consumption has positive effects on the environment and municipal budgets, city officials said.
The audit will provide the city with baseline information regarding how much energy the eight buildings use and ways in which it can decrease that usage. The audit’s findings will be presented to the City Council in the form of a “performance contract technical analysis,” according to a city document. The council will vote on whether to implement any recommended energy retrofits needed to make suggested improvements.