Upgrades Made to Reduce Energy Waste in Township Hall

Evaluating the energy use of the , recent commissioning reports found significant energy waste by the building.  

At a board of trustees workshop session on March 31, Don Boza, a DTE-certified energy manager who was hired by board as a technical consultant and project manager, listed more than a dozen issues revealed by the building’s commissioning report.

“These are things that should have been caught in the original commissioning report,” Boza said. “These are problems that have plagued you for the last eight to 10 years, and that’s why your energy costs are 270 percent higher than they should be.”

Boza said these problems date back to the original construction of the township hall and have led the hall to rate only a four out of 100 on the energy index through the Department of Energy’s Energy Portfolio Manager.

“Four out of 100 is absolutely horrible,” Boza said. “I went through this very carefully and decided we had to dig in.”

Numerous problems were found with the building’s boiler system. Alarm wiring that should have been set to alert the system’s controller in a failure was never connected.

Boza said when the wiring was run and pulled into the new alert system set up for the building, one of the boilers did trip an alarm, but someone had removed the alarm wire because no one could apparently figure out the problem was a bad pressure switch.

Air dampers in the building had either been removed or never installed and the boiler alarm filtration was disabled. Sump pump alarms that should have been installed never were and several exhaust fans found in closets were never cut through to the ceiling to continue circulating air.

“What I don’t understand is we have maintenance contracts,” Boza said. “(These issues) were never brought to the attention of the board.”

Boza said the majority of these issues have been resolved in recent months and he believes township hall can be brought up to at least 75 on the energy index.

“There is no reason why we shouldn’t (make 75),” he said. “That would be the goal.”

The installation of in township hall, as well as all township buildings, is also expected to significantly reduce the township’s energy use.

With the ability to program set points in each building as well as control the heating, ventilating and air conditioning elements of the buildings through a secure website, the township is expecting to save thousands of dollars in utility costs.

In the last nine days of March, Boza said the electrical consumption of town hall alone is down 28 percent, which works out to a $25,000 a year reduction in utility costs and maintenance costs.