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Rock County reviews Constellation climate action plan calling for building efficiency, rooftop solar and fleet options
Summary
The Rock County Board received a Climate Action Plan prepared by Constellation Navigator that maps emissions from a 2017 baseline, prioritizes building efficiency and rooftop solar, and recommends fleet optimization and potential offsets to reach the county's carbon-neutral goal.
The Rock County Board of Supervisors on an April evening heard a presentation from Constellation Navigator on a Climate Action Plan that uses 2017 as the county's greenhouse gas baseline and recommends actions across buildings, energy and fleet to pursue a carbon-neutral target.
The plan, presented by Courtney Bland, Sustainability Advisory Manager for Constellation Navigator, and Barney Schafer, senior business development manager, lays out six building-and-energy strategies and three mobile-and-fleet strategies. "So, my name is Courtney, I'm with Constellation. We've created Rock County Climate Action Plan," Bland said as she began the presentation.
The plan documents county emissions for 2017 and 2023 and notes total emissions rose between those years largely because the county added square footage and began energy-efficiency work; when normalized per square foot, emissions fell. Constellation recommends continuing efficiency measures (LED lighting, recommissioning), pursuing rooftop solar at high-potential sites, undertaking cost-effective air-sealing and insulation, deploying capital-intensive measures such as heat pumps where feasible, tracking emerging technologies, and addressing residual emissions with renewable energy certificates or carbon offsets.
Constellation identified specific county facilities as good rooftop-solar candidates in its analysis, highlighting the Human Services Building and the courthouse and noting the sheriff's office as another feasible site. Bland pointed to net-present-value calculations in the firm's modeling: positive NPV across a site indicates long-term financial payback along with greenhouse gas reductions.
On residual emissions, Bland told supervisors that unless the electricity grid becomes fully carbon-free, the county may need to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) or carbon offsets to reach a carbon-neutral claim. She also pointed supervisors to three financing and incentive pathways discussed in the plan: Focus on Energy rebates in Wisconsin, available Inflation Reduction Act incentives for solar and electrification, and standard capital-budget requests.
Board members did not call for extended debate after the presentation; Constellation staff said the board now has an "external-facing" Climate Action Plan document plus editable working files for county facilities management to update annually.
The presentation followed the agenda item listed as "10a: Climate Action Plan, Constellation Consultant Report." No formal action or vote on adoption of the plan was recorded in the meeting minutes.
