Five-year energy savings plan approved by council

Wolfe Island wind farm. Photo by Nicole Kleinsteuber

By Taylor Broderick

Everyone in Belleville will be asked to look at new ways to save energy over the next five years, according to a report presented to council Monday night.

A five-year energy conservation and demand management plan approved by council will involve the government and institutions, along with all residents.

Joel Carr-Braint, property manager for the city, said the report primarily supports energy savings. It will tell everyone what can be done and what everyone’s responsibilities are, he said.

“Municipalities, universities, school and hospitals are required to develop an energy management plan that will lead their facility through the next five years, identifying ways to save energy usage and therefore, money,” he said in an interview.

The result is saving more money for the community, said Carr-Braint.

“Part of this program will be education,” Carr-Braint said.

The program looks at a way to better conserve energy in large buildings around the city like the fire halls and bus terminal, he said.

When the doors open at the bus terminal, the wind blows through and all the heat blows out, along with all the money spent to keep the place heated, he said.

“There is a lot of things we can do,” he said.

One of Carr-Braint’s suggestions is to find a way to shut off the heat, once the doors open, so it’s not running one hundred percent and just blowing out the door, he said.

Councilor Tom Lafferty, who is a member of the city’s Green Task Force, said the idea of the plan is to teach everyone to conserve. He said this plan gives everybody an idea of what the energy costs are.

“Even the buildings that are sitting empty, have significant [costs],” to the city, Lafferty said.

The city’s portion of the plan will benefit taxpayers.

“Ultimately our dollars are public dollars, so if we can save anything, we’d like to do that,” Carr-Braint said.

The usage report shows buildings with pumps and motors per square foot are the most expensive to run. This shows people right away where and what needs to be looked after and focused on in order to save the most energy, Carr-Braint said.

Being transparent is critical, Lafferty said.

“I think it’s a very important document the public should have a look at as well,” he said.

Councilor Jack Miller agreed, saying it’s absolutely critical information and a very detailed document.

However, Miller already noticed a few things that jumped out while reading the report, he said.

“If I’m reading it right, we used a lot more energy in 2012 than in 2011 within [Belleville].” Miller said.

“Each year it goes up.” Carr-Braint said.

“Our consumption continually goes up,” he said. “We’ve been actively going after these numbers.”

And, as a community, he hopes to tackle this problem.

“This report keeps the light [on], or should I say, keeps the light off,” said Carr-Braint.

The last few pages of the report show ideas to be worked on for future energy savings, he said.

With approval of the council, the report is to be placed onto the City of Belleville’s webpage.

The process of inspecting buildings and making plans has already begun. The next step is getting the community to see the report, he said.

Posting and allowing public viewing of the report through the city of Belleville’s website, commits the city to being energy wise, Carr-Braint said.