County jumps on energy saving bandwagon

Published 9:49 am Wednesday, May 21, 2008

When the Freeborn County Government Center was built, some energy saving measures were included in the plans. But with energy costs continuing to increase, Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever talked with Alliant Energy over the past month to make the jail more efficient.

The proposed project would retrofit the jail with lighting to replace the metal halide bulbs. The bulbs consume a lot of energy, create a lot of heat and burn out often, Kluever said.

He updated the Freeborn County commissioners with the progress of the shared savings program Tuesday. The project isn’t ready to be acted on yet. Kluever will first take the plan to the building committee for recommendation.

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A letter to Kluever from building manager Randy Jensen says 120 bulbs have been replaced since the county moved into the jail. It takes roughly one hour to change the bulb and sometimes more than one person.

Per Jensen’s calculations, the total cost just to replace the metal halide bulbs has been more than $3,600. That doesn’t take into account the extra energy the bulbs use or the cost to counteract the extra heat they put off.

“We can not only save energy but we can save our maintenance folks,” Kluever said.

The lights are 30 feet high and take a lot of work to change, he said.

Through the shared energy plan, the county would get funds from Alliant Energy to cover the total cost — roughly $34,000, according to Kluever — of the project. Then over the course of 60 months, the county would pay back the borrowed funds with a low interest rate.

Down the road, once the project is paid off, the lights could save around $7,000 a year, Kluever said. He is still working with Alliant to fine-tune details and figures.

“At the end of the day, I’m excited about it because we are able to do something that, for the long term, is going to help with energy consumption, be good stewards for the environment as well as the realized savings in tax dollars,” he said.

In other business, the county board:

– Approved a request from Manchester for a sewage force main to bring the city’s waste water to Albert Lea for treatment. The force main would follow state Highway 13 and be 30 feet to the east of the highway.

– Approved a permit for Holiday Park Golf Course to build a stage and storage shed for entertainment and temporary camping uses off Freeborn County Road 46 in Hayward. This request pertains to hosting the Hambone Blues Jam 2008.

Commissioners amended the original permit to include a provision to rearrange the stage, changing it from facing northeast to north or northwest.

– Approved an amendment to a planning and zoning ordinance that clarifies and describes a cabin. Part of the amendment describes a cabin as “rustic in nature with earth tone colors” and located in established wildlife and recreation areas.

– Approved an amendment to the planning and zoning wind tower ordinance to make it compliant with recent state Legislature changes. The amendment gives the county responsibility over a wind farm with a capacity of 25 megawatts. Previously counties had control over wind farms with a capacity of 5 megawatts.

The Bent Tree Wind Farm proposed off state Highway 13 could be a 400-megawatt farm.

– Approved a conditional use permit to build a grain facility outside the farm yard for Dwayne Stiernagle in Freeborn Township.

– Approved a conditional-use permit for a 520-animal-unit total confinement hog barn in Pickerel Lake Township for Matt and Rachel Korman. The building will be 51 feet by 328 feet.

– Approved a conditional-use permit for a 720-animal-unit total confinement hog barn for Adams Farms Minnesota in Oakland Township. The building will be 51 feet by 392 feet.

– Approved a grant project agreement between the Minnesota Department of Health and Freeborn County Public Health for $1,451 dedicated to eliminate health disparities among refugees and people born outside the country.

– Approved a grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Division of Traffic Safety for $11,000. The grant application would be for Toward Zero Death Safe Communities project from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2009. It would focus on seat belt use for teenagers and adults.

Local partners for this project would include county and Albert Lea engineers, law enforcement, the Minnesota State Patrol, emergency medical personnel, the county fire association and local schools.

– Authorized a memorandum of understanding for the Food Data Dictionaries developed by the Minnesota Department of Health regarding food safety.

– Accepted a bid from Kimball Excavating, of $95,334, to remove and replace a bridge within the county.

– Accepted a bid from Pearson Brothers, of $226,993, for bituminous seal coating of various highways throughout the county.

– Accepted a bid of $143,100 from Ulland Brothers for maintaining bituminous overlays on various county highways.

– Heard a report about the electronics collection May 11. More than 300 cars showed up and 1,098 electronic units were collected. Two semi-trailers were filled plus more storage. Randy Tuchtenhagen of the Environmental Services Department said he will look into another collection because he anticipates the need based on changing Minnesota laws.

– Approved repairs to County Ditches 65, J-6, J-8, 8 and County Judicial Ditches 27 and 6.

– Approved the intent to report the recording of the right of way for Judicial Ditch 6 in the Hartland and Hartland Township area.

– Set a public hearing about Judicial Ditch 6 for 8:45 a.m. July 1.

– Approved the amended and restated joint powers agreement for the Minnesota Counties Computer Cooperative. The board approved Amendment No. 1, which reduced liability.

– Approved travel requests for three Human Services Department staff.