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MANAGING I N TOUGH ECONOMIC TIME S ^ The focus on sustainability and `green" practices is crucial for the future of our planet. As an added benefit, many green initiatives can also save your city money. In these times, that's not just nice-that's necessary. By Jim Giebel nergy is one of the largest expen- ditures for city governments, so it's more important than ever to make sure your city's energy use is as efficient as possible. It's good for the environment as well as for your city's budget. City buildings, for example, use-and often waste-a ton of energy. But there are many low- and no-cost energy conservation strategies cities can employ to combat this waste. Many of these are well-known practices that are easy to implement, so it's important that you evaluate your city's energy use to make sure you are taking advantage of these simple techniques. Monitor your buildings The first step in your energy evaluation is to establish a baseline for all of your city buildings. Start by collecting two years' worth of billing data for all of the gas and electric meters of each building. This will give you an average cost and help you measure the success of your energy-saving initiatives. One way to help you track your energy use and cost is to make sure your city is in compliance with the state requirements of the Minnesota "Buildings, Benchmarking and Beyond" initiative. Under this program, govern- ment entities must submit their electric and natural gas energy usage numbers for all public buildings.The purpose is to identify inefficient energy use in public buildings. If your city has not submitted this data, you should do so as soon as pos- sible as the deadline has already past. Submitting this information is required by the state, and can actually be quite helpful to cities.The state has contracted with the Weidt Group to analyze the data for comparison, so individual cities can see where they stand on energy use. The Weidt Group is also providing pie charts, graphs, comparisons by type of building (fire, police, libraries), and other free tools that will aid in your tracking of energy. The Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program also offers free tools to help you track the energy use of your buildings. Learn about them at www energystar.gov (click on "Buildings & Plants"). Temperature Making sure your thermostat is set at the optimal temperature is one of the easiest, no-cost strategies for reducing energy and saving money.This may sound simple, but too often, thermostats are set at the same temperature whether the building is in use or not. Suggested heating temperature range is between 66 and 70 degrees when the building is in use, and 58 to 60 degrees when unoccupied. For air conditioning, the suggested temperature range is 76 to 80 degrees at all times. Temperatures can be automatically adjusted at specific times with an energy management sys- tem or a simplistic setback thermostat. It is estimated that for every degree adjustment in heating/cooling, a savings of 1 percent to 2 percent can be expected. Lighting For most organizations, lighting con- sumes more than 30 percent of total energy usage. This is an area where you have the opportunity to make a major impact. One easy way to save energy is to make use of the least expensive form of light in buildings-sunlight-other- wise known as daylighting. Daylight- ing, in its simplest form, is simply taking advantage of any indirect sunlight that comes into your buildings. Open shades during the day, espe- cially during the winter months, to permit as much natural sunlight in as possible.This may allow you to turn off some lights near the windows. And there is an added benefit: tests have shown letting more sunlight into the office results in higher worker productivity. The type of lighting in your buildings will also affect your energy bill. For instance, incandescent lights are only about 10 percent efficient as light, with the other 90 percent given off as heat. They should be replaced immediately with compact fluorescent lights (CFCs) for immediate energy savings. Don't wait until they burn out-they are costing you money now. MINNESOTA CITIES MAY 2009