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Council accepts 16‑building energy audit; consultants outline measures and payback ranges
Summary
Consultants presented a 232‑page energy audit covering 16 city facilities, estimating electricity, gas and emissions savings for bundled efficiency measures and recommending planning steps; council accepted the report and asked departments to consider findings in capital planning.
City staff and consultants from Resource Consulting Engineers and Willdan presented the final building energy audit to the council, summarizing analysis of 16 city‑owned facilities, modeling methodology and recommended energy‑efficiency measures. The audit used detailed energy modeling for larger buildings, benchmarking for medium buildings and manual calculations for unique facilities (aquatic centers, ice arenas and the water plant). Consults highlighted opportunities for electrification (heat‑pump water heaters, heat‑pump HVAC) and rooftop photovoltaics for selected buildings, noting that some measures increase electric consumption while reducing natural gas use and net carbon emissions.
Consultant Corey Metzger and Willdan project manager Joel Logan explained the report's tables showing incremental costs, potential rebates, simple payback estimates and cost per unit of CO2 avoided. Corey Metzger said some recommended measures intentionally show no near‑term payback because they include one‑time infrastructure costs to enable future electrification; the goal is longer‑term emissions and operating savings once equipment reaches end of life. When asked whether modeled savings have borne out in implemented projects, consultants said models have been validated against completed retrofits and stressed that operational changes can affect realized savings.
Council members pressed for clearer, project‑level cost‑benefit examples; consultants walked through two City Hall retrofit options showing differences in incremental costs, emission savings and simple payback (for example, one option had a shorter payback and lower incremental cost per kg CO2 saved). Staff said the audit and its appendices will inform capital planning and recommended phasing and early planning for future electrification (e.g., pre‑installing electrical circuits to ease later replacement with heat‑pump water heaters).
Council voted to accept the audit report. Staff will post the full report to the city's sustainability page, encourage departments to reference findings in capital planning, and return with targeted analysis for large projects that might be prioritized in the capital program.
