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Energy saving ideas presented to Fergus Falls city council
Published 11:44am Thursday, January 24, 2013What would it take for the city of Fergus Falls to save cash from its facilities? And could those savings go toward other city projects in the future?
That is what a 15-year energy saving scenario presentation given by representatives of the ESG/Honeywell Company addressed at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“We began to first become aware of opportunities that have been included in state statutes for energy efficiencies back at the Minnesota Cities Conference back in June or July,” said Public Works Director Anne Martens. “We started talking with ESG (Energy Service Group), which is a subsidiary of Honeywell. We began talking about energy saving projects for facilities here.”
During a PowerPoint presentation, Jason Stergion and Madonna Rykken of ESG gave city officials some insights on how to guide the city along the path to energy savings. Those savings could then go into other projects the city would like to work on.
Potential improvements included updating technologies, such as replacing older motors with newer ones and upgrading pneumatic controls, and centralizing energy systems.
“So when we talk about potential improvements, you’re looking at controlled systems,” Stergion said. “We’re looking at ways to bring in all of the systems (in the city) into one energy management system. And interfacing your boilers into that system so that it’s controlled in one area. As opposed to separate controls that are there.”
Updating technologies would have the potential to save costs over time, according to the presentation.
But the presentation was just a preliminary look at potentials for the city. Some concerns were if this has cost the city money so far.
“What they’ve done so far is just a cursory review of the city and based on their experience in other cities, and what they think could happen here in Fergus Falls,” said Finance Director Bill Sonmor. “This has cost us nothing. We just invested some time. The next step would be if the council would want to go further with it, then they would start with more of the in-depth look of the facilities and see if there are projects that are viable. That’s why we brought it to you, to see if it is something of interest of delving into further.”
