Energy use is as much as 46 percent lower in various town departments over the past 20 months according to the Harvard Energy Advisory Committee (HEAC), which presented a six-month update to the Board of Selectmen last week.
The town has come a long way since energy use was under scrutiny at the 2008 Annual Town Meeting. Department of Public Works Manager Rich Nota got almost as much heat as his vehicle bays and office space when he told the assembly the department was using 700 gallons of fuel oil every two weeks to heat those areas. The temperature in the room rose further when residents criticized the library for having lights on after hours and the Bromfield School, where students were complaining about being too hot in the winter.
Because energy costs are paid from a general energy budget rather than department budgets, department heads weren’t generally aware of energy use and costs, nor had incentives to improve them. As electricity, oil, and gas prices rose in recent years, the loose energy management system became more costly and drew the attention of the selectmen and other town officials.
HEAC was formed one month after the Annual Town Meeting, and soon thereafter managers responsible for town buildings began to receive reports on their energy use.
Since then, departments have significantly reduced their energy use and more improvements are underway, according HEAC member David Fay. Now, energy audits and changes in tracking, monitoring, and awareness are helping the town better manage its energy use.
At the meeting, Fay presented three years of detailed energy data and graphs that showed total energy use (electricity, heating oil, and gas) down in nine of the 12 major town buildings. Fay reported his oil and gas figures as usage per square foot per heating-degree day to allow for year-to-year comparisons, regardless of mild or severe winters.
Heating oil use at the Department of Public Works (DPW) is down 46 percent and electricity use is 18 percent lower since the 2008 town meeting. Fay credited a new insulated roof, a revised heating system, and thermostats for the improvements. By switching the manager’s office and lunch room from the old boiler and a single thermostat to propane heaters with programmable thermostats, the DPW no longer has to choose between warm people and warm trucks or cold trucks and cold people. Nota also upgraded to more efficient lighting and installed a new burner that can use donated waste oil.
Adjustments to the library’s heating system lowered natural gas use by almost 40 per cent during the winter months last year, compared to its first year of operation. Fay attributed further reductions in overall energy use at the library to several factors: fewer hours of operation, thermostats turned down in winter and up in the summer, heating and cooling system tuning, a program for shutting off unused lights, and a heat distribution system upgrade.
At the Bromfield School, electricity use is down 19 per cent. Fay cited fluorescent replacement lighting and good energy management by Facilities Manager Mark Force for the change.
However, Fay did say, “It is a mystery why we’re not seeing a reduction in heating oil at Bromfield” despite lowered thermostats and a fine-tuning of the building’s automation system.
