DC facilities committee working on facility assessment for using renewable energy
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Facilities Committee and county staff are working on a facilities assessment to determine how and where improvements can be made to help meet the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.
A spreadsheet is being developed for all of the facilities, said Don Kuether, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the facilities committee, at the July 27 meeting.
Should the facilities committee also form a task force to work on the goal for using renewable energy? The City of Menomonie and Eau Claire County both have a renewable energy task force, he said, adding that he believed the City of Eau Claire also had formed a task force.
The task force would be made up of members of the facilities committee, Dunn County staff, concerned citizens and representation from the villages in the county, Kuether said.
An ad hoc committee or a subcommittee is a good idea, although Dunn County staff are exceptionally busy without much time for extra work, said Charles Maves, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the facilities committee.
The spreadsheet has a tab for every building the county owns and has columns for the heating systems, cooling systems and windows, so the information can be filled in whether the building is heated by electricity, natural gas or geothermal, how it is cooled, and whether the windows are single, double or triple pane, said Tim Niehoff, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the facilities committee.
Another column that could be added, for the windows, for example, would be whether the windows could be upgraded, such as single to double pane, and what would be the estimated cost, he said.
County staff will have to fill out much of the information in the spreadsheet, Niehoff noted.
Once the spreadsheet is completed so the information is available about the county’s facilities, then a subcommittee could be formed, he said.
Planning and budgeting for the goal of using renewable energy cannot be done until the cost is known, Niehoff said.
The spreadsheet will give the facilities committee a baseline to work with, Maves said.
Efficiency
Heating efficiency could be another component of the spreadsheet. The county already has some buildings with 98 percent heating efficiency, Niehoff said.
When considering whether the heating system can be upgraded to be more efficient, if it is already known that a building is at 98 percent efficiency, then there is no point in upgrading to 99 percent efficiency because the savings would not justify the cost, he said.
As long as there is at least some information coming into the spreadsheet as time allows for county staff, then Niehoff said he would be fine with waiting to form a subcommittee.
The facilities committee could do a quick review of the spreadsheet at each monthly meeting to see what updates have been added, he said.
Potential savings
Along with estimates for upgrades, information could be included on the spreadsheet, too, about estimates of potential savings on energy, Niehoff said.
If an existing building, or heating system, or cooling system, is replaced with new, what are the energy savings? What is the cost for the budget? After those questions are answered, then the facilities committee could see if it would fit the budget and could consider starting to plan, he said.
All of that information can be tracked in the spreadsheet, Niehoff said.
Some of work toward renewable energy and energy efficiency has already been completed. The Neighbors of Dunn County, for example, already has a geothermal heating system and double pane windows, he said.
Another suggestion made to the facilities committee is to plant trees around county buildings. The trees could help cool the buildings in the summer with their shade, and in the winter, after they have lost their leaves, the sun could help to warm the buildings, Niehoff said.
Forming a subcommittee is a little premature until the information is in the spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is filled out, then planning and budgeting will be able to be completed, he said.
Facilitator
If the facilities committee forms a subcommittee, then the facilities committee should consider a facilitator. The facilitator should be someone with experience at managing a diverse committee and keeping the committee moving, Kuether said.
When the budget comes up next year, the facilities committee should consider putting money in the budget for a facilitator, he said.
Kuether said he had been a member of the livestock operations study group, and that group had used a facilitator from the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.
Kuether said he could check to see if WCWRPC has facilitators available and what the cost might be.
Maves said he liked the idea of filling in the spreadsheet first to gather information about the existing facilities, what could be upgraded, and what the estimated cost and estimated savings might be before forming a subcommittee.
“Green energy” will be an agenda item every month so the facilities committee can review the updates on the spreadsheet, he said.
The Dunn County Board approved a resolution setting the goals of improved efficiency to reduce energy consumption, achieving carbon neutrality and transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 at the May 19 meeting.
