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The Bend City Council recently approved Phase Two of a contract with Ameresco, an energy services company, to help the City improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel use. The Council adopted Resolution 3044 in September 2016 with a goal of reducing the City’s fossil fuel use by 40 percent by 2030.
Last year, Ameresco audited a variety of City facilities and operations as part of Phase One of its Strategic Energy Management Plan. The audit identified opportunities for reducing the City’s fossil fuel use and determined which projects to recommend for Phase Two. Projects to be included in Phase Two were selected based on their capacity to significantly reduce the City’s fossil fuel use, lower maintenance costs and use less energy and/or water, which lowers operating costs for the City.
Phase Two projects will improve energy efficiency in nine City facilities by upgrading lighting and lighting controls, conserving domestic water, improving building thermal performance, installing solar panels and updating heating and cooling systems. The City will also upgrade street lighting to light-emitting diode (LED) lights in Phase Two. A full list of Phase Two projects can be found in the online issue summary.
“We’re excited to get started on this important work with Ameresco,” said Senior Policy Analyst Gillian Ockner. “We’ll save money and reduce our carbon footprint. It’s an opportunity to save taxpayer dollars on operational costs and improve our energy efficiency at City facilities.”
The estimated total cost for this phase of work will be $3.8 million. More than $300,000 in grants and other incentives has already been earned to help offset those costs. Annual savings to the City through reduced energy costs is expected to fully cover the costs for these improvements.
“We learned a lot about the City of Bend’s energy usage through the audit we did last year,” said Joe O’Donnell, Northwest Region sales manager for Ameresco. “We are ready to work closely with the City on these projects to help them meet the goals of the Strategic Energy Management Plan.”
These projects are expected to begin immediately and are scheduled to be completed by early 2020.
