The newest City agency, the Department of General Services (DGS) has hit the ground running by leading the charge in saving energy dollars for municipal government. It does this through renewable energy, energy audits, and energy performance contracts. These projects pay for themselves in costs savings and nearly all provide environmental benefits as well. DGS does this through a series of energy projects that, when combined, save the City over $6 million a year. These projects are carefully monitored by the experienced engineers and staff of the DGS Energy Division.
Here is a brief rundown of some of the energy saving efforts underway. One is energy performance contracts. Currently at work in 18 City buildings, energy performance contracting makes use of energy service companies (esco’s) who perform energy-wise adjustments and improvements to buildings such as retrofits and replacements of lighting, ventilation improvements, installation of energy smart monitoring systems for heating and air conditioning and improvements and upgrades to valves and controls as needed for increased energy savings and efficiency.
In another effort, DGS improved the driving experience for city travelers with installation of low-energy, brighter burning LED traffic lights for the City Department of Transportation (DOT). LED’s replaced the more costly incandescent bulbs that were being used. This project saves the City about $800,000 each year. In late 2008, a waste-to-energy cogeneration facility was built for the Department of Public Works Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant. This facility converts the methane gas produced at the plant into electricity for use at the site. This reduces the purchase of electrical power by a guaranteed $1.4 million a year or more depending on the cost of electricity. This provides relief to the power grid and helps improves air quality as the methane gas is no longer burned off, but is now reused. As an added benefit, renewable energy generation produces "green tags" or Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) that can sold to energy suppliers. In a first-ever agreement for Baltimore City government in July 2009, DGS negotiated the sale of 4,000 REC’s to an energy supplier for $38,000. It followed up this September with the sale of another round of credits amounting to $8,000 for a total of $46,000 in REC’s so far this year.
In yet another efficiency program, DGS will receive in excess of $400,000 this fiscal year as a result of participation in BGE’s energy and capacity saving Curtailment Program. This program is for customers that can reduce loads during times of peak electric demand, when alerted to do so by BGE. DGS is able to do this by activating backup generators at seven City facilities. In addition to DPW’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, other City facilities currently enrolled in the program are the DPW Patapsco
Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Charles Benton and Abel Wolman buildings, and the Jones Falls, Leakin Park and Dundalk Pumping Stations.
A $300,000 savings will be realized in utility bills for the coming year due to DGS’s implementation of continuous energy audits for all City buildings. This monitoring ensures that the City agencies are properly charged for utilities: heating, oil, gas, electricity, water, chilled water and steam. Energy audits revealed that 60 City utility accounts were paying higher utility bills because they were not enrolled in the cooperative buying group known as BRCPC. BRCPC is an acronym for the Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee; it procures low utility rates by buying energy in bulk amounts. The group’s membership consists of Baltimore City and several surrounding counties.
The Department of General Services continues to lead the way with innovative programs that save money for City taxpayers. The newly formed department established July 1, 2009, is expanding its efforts using fiscal innovation and environmentally sustainable practices that will make Baltimore cleaner and greener. In addition to establishing energy initiatives, the agency also maintains over 400 city-owned buildings and a fleet of 5,600 vehicles.
For additional information on DGS programs and services, visit them on the web at www.BaltimoreCity.gov.
