PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has a new plan to conserve energy and to lower costs.
A draft “facility resource conservation management plan,” which applies to the Clallam County Courthouse and several other county facilities, was presented at the commissioners’ work session Monday.
Perry Spring, the county’s resource conservation manager, said some of the steps are as simple as turning off the lights at the end of the work day, powering down computers and phasing out the use of space heaters.
No action was taken Monday. The three county commissioners will consider adopting the plan in the coming weeks.
Spring was hired in September 2010 through a grant from the state Department of Commerce.
He has been studying energy consumption and introducing energy-saving measures for five government entities: Clallam County, the cities of Port Angeles and Sequim, Olympic Medical Center and Clallam Transit.
Clallam County was the administrator in a shared pilot program funded by the 2009 federal stimulus package that put $75,000 into the resource conservation program in both 2010 and 2011.
The consortium of governments covered a 50 percent match based on the amount of energy they use.
Spring’s contract will expire June 30.
“Great work,” Commissioner Mike Doherty told Spring after an hourlong presentation.
The plan includes a baseline analysis of energy use patterns and elements of implementation.
The purpose of the program is to help cities and counties establish and implement long-term energy efficiency standards for their buildings.
Main goals in the plan include:
— Cultivate a culture of stewardship, conservation, sustainability and be a community leader.
— Develop and maintain tools to monitor, assess and continuously improve the resource/utility performance of facilities.
Steps to meet these goals include employee “green teams,” bulletin board postings, newsletters and staff communications.
Clallam County is in the midst of a facilities upgrade at the courthouse at 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles. The upgrade includes a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and more efficient solar panels.
The county owns or operates 150 other buildings at 30 locations. There are also 20 county parks, 13 of which have buildings or structures with utilities.
Action plans were developed for the Clallam County Courthouse, Camp David Jr., Salt Creek Park, the Clallam County Veterans Center and other county’s facilities, Spring said.
Clallam County averaged $440,192 per year on utility costs from 2008 to 2010. Seventy-three percent of that spending, or $319,056 per year, was for energy.
Refuse accounted for 12 percent of utility spending, water accounted for 9 percent and sewer was 6 percent.
Total utility spending fell from $455,000 in 2008 to $428,000 in 2010 before it rose to $436,000 last year. Spring’s figures were not adjusted to rises in utility rates.
Spring said he will provide similar presentations to the other four government in the grant.
“I think next steps really need to include how much staff time is going to be involved and associated with this model,” Commissioner Jim McEntire said.
“Staff time is not free. We need to be careful that the input costs for this don’t overwhelm the benefit derived on the other side of the equation. Staff time, I think, is going to be at a premium going ahead.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
