ATHOL – The town has received the results of an energy audit conducted on several municipal buildings, along with proposals for improving efficiency relative to heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting.
The recommended improvements don’t come cheap, however, with the cost of upgrading the HVAC, domestic hot water and lighting systems at Town Hall estimated at approximately $900,000. Similar upgrades at the wastewater treatment plant are estimated at $630,000, while improvements at the police station could cost around a $750,000.
The cost of the upgrades would be made up by savings on fuel oil and electricity costs over a period of 25 to 30 years.
Details of the audits will be presented at the Sept. 19 meeting of the Energy Committee by RISE Engineering, the consultants hired to conduct the audits. RISE’s participation was paid for through a $15,000 Municipal Energy Technical Assistance grant. The reports will also be presented to the Decarbonization Task Force.
“We knew that we’d been looking at close to a million dollars for basically putting a heat pump-based system at the Town Hall, so that number actually isn’t all that surprising,” said Director of Planning and Development Eric Smith. “I don’t think that number would actually shock the Energy Committee. It’s certainly been a priority of the Energy Committee to address the Town Hall. The boiler in this building is very old and it’s kind of like a ticking timebomb to continue with business as usual.”
Smith said the plan is to cover the bulk of the upgrades through the use of grant monies. He added that it’s unlikely that it could be funded entirely through one round of the Green Communities Grant, a state program that provides funding opportunities to reduce municipal energy use and costs by way of clean energy projects.
“We still need to talk about that with RISE to see if there are some other grant programs we could try to tie into,” Smith said. “I also know National Grid also has a program where, essentially, if there’s some funding the taxpayers would provide, for example, there may be a way to deal with whatever difference is left.”
One reason the audit of the wastewater treatment plant was completed, Smith said, was the potential for securing funds through the state’s Gap Energy Grant Program. According to Mass.Gov, the program “provides state grant assistance to Municipal and District drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities for installing energy efficiency measures (e.g., variable speed drives; pumping, aeration, and HVAC upgrades etc.) and clean energy generation projects (solar photovoltaic, in-line hydropower, water source heat pumps etc.) at their plants and pumping stations.”
Smith said he also hopes to secure some grant monies to help pay for insulation and weatherization measures, particularly at Town Hall.
For now, the town is looking at a conceptual estimate for Town Hall, the treatment plant and police station, and completion of the upgrades and finalizing the funding are long-term projects.
“We have to make sure that all the folks who would be involved in any decisions we make are participating in the process and to help make these proposals go forward,” said Smith. “It may take more work to line up exactly how much all of this will cost, get support and go forward with different grant programs and financing options. But we have to start somewhere.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.