Tuolumne County Energy Retrofit Projects Translate to Savings
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 11 December 2012 21:11
- Written by Green Liver
Sacramento, California - The County of Tuolumne recently improved its energy efficiency and reduced its carbon footprint thanks to federal stimulus funds.
This Sierra Nevada County installed energy efficient technologies at 10 county-owned buildings including the administration building and the main library located in Sonora.
More than 2,000 old interior and exterior light fixtures in 10 county building lamps were removed and retrofitted with approximately 1,885 energy efficient T8 and T5 compact fluorescent lights, and/or light emitting diodes lights. These energy efficient lighting technologies use less energy, require less maintenance, and provide a greater quality of light for staff and the public.
In addition to the lighting upgrades, new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC) were installed to replace older, less efficient ones in the main library and in the sheriff's office.
The energy improvements for the County of Tuolumne are estimated to save 298,300 kilowatt hours or the equivalent of $17,000 in annual energy cost. The estimated reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are expected to be 103 tons per year.
Completed in June, the County of Tuolumne's lighting retrofit and HVAC projects were funded with $289,891 by a Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) of the U.S. Department of Energy under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
Administered by the California Energy Commission, these federal grants contributed to the energy efficiency goals of small cities and counties.