Small towns across the country are operating on tight budgets, and the City of Cold Spring, Minnesota (population 4,025) is no different. With poor lighting in several buildings, the city staff longed for better lighting but budget and time constraints kept the projects in limbo. “It was something the city had been thinking about, but other things always came up,” said Public Works Administrative Assistant Julie Zimmerman. When the opportunity arose in the spring of 2010 to apply for an Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), the city jumped at the chance.
They received a grant from the state of Minnesota’s Division of Energy Resources for $4,308 and in the fall of 2010 began working with a local contractor, Walz Electric, to replace or upgrade the lighting in five city-owned facilities. In total, 174 lighting fixtures were replaced.
The size of projects at single buildings varied. Some areas, such as the waste water treatment facility, received a total lighting overhaul, while the police garage simply needed to have three lighting fixtures replaced. Lighting was also upgraded in two public works maintenance buildings and a city owned storage building.
By bundling their EECBG grant with rebates and incentives from their local utility, Xcel Energy, the city was able to reduce the city’s costs substantially. “When things come up, it’s always nice to find other sources of funding,” said Zimmerman. “Without these extra dollars, we wouldn’t have been able to do the project.” The best part, she said, is that by increasing energy efficiency, “the new lighting is expected to save the city $1,800 annually in operating costs, if that savings is realized, and based on city cost after the grant and rebates from Xcel, the city payback for the project would be just 2.4 years.”
In addition to the ongoing operating cost savings, the city is seeing other benefits as well. Because they were switching to more energy efficient lighting, they were able to add lighting in some areas and still lower their operating costs. “The staff is pretty happy with that, it was quite dark in some of those buildings before,” said Zimmerman.
The lighting project was completed in early 2011 and the city continues to look at other ways it can reduce energy costs. “We’d like to do more projects like this,” said Zimmerman, “every little bit helps.”
Project Snapshot:
Project details: 5 buildings received lighting retrofits including the Maintenance Garage – 28 lighting fixtures replaced; Waste Water Treatment Plant – 75 lighting fixtures replaced; Police Garage – 3 lighting fixtures replaced; Vehicle Storage and Maintenance for Public Works – 42 lighting fixtures replaced; and an additional Public Works building – 26 lighting fixtures replaced.
Funding: EECBG – $4,308; Matching grant – $5,765
Predicted Savings: $1,800/year in operating costs; project payback predicted at 2.4 years factoring in Xcel rebates
About the Local Government Energy Action Series:
This effort tells the stories of Minnesota municipalities, counties, and schools and the tangible results of their energy-saving efforts to inspire others to take their own actions.
