City Hall HVAC System Improvements Project AwardMasterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: City Hall HVAC System
DATE: March 14, 2011
Dubuque
hitill
AIWlmedcaCity
11111 '
2007
In the summer of 2010, the City received funding from the State of Iowa to hire a part-
time, temporary graduate level intern to look at energy consumption. The focus of this
position was to analyze City Hall operations and systems and identify opportunities for
energy savings. The focus of the work was to look at City Hall mechanical systems as
well as employee usage, enter this data into the Energy Star Portfolio manager software
program and provide a comprehensive analysis of energy use and suggestions on how
to reduce usage and the carbon footprint of City Hall.
In reviewing this report, one area in particular stood out related to our existing HVAC
system. Currently, City Hall uses nine units to heat and cool the air for the building.
Three of the units are air cooled and the remaining six units are water cooled and use
potable tap water. The water cooled HVAC system for City Hall draws water in,
circulates through the system and then dumps the water down a janitor sink in the
basement. This water is unmetered and unregulated. However, a sampling of the HVAC
system estimates that approximately 12 million gallons of water is dumped annually,
which is greater than some of our existing water users such as a hospital. If metered,
the cost of this much water would be $21,186.82 in water fees and $42,240 in sewer
fees for a total of $63,426.82. In addition, this costs approximately $5,000 in chemicals
to treat this amount of water each year. Finally, this improvement will result in energy
savings, though we are unable to calculate exact savings due to the age of the existing
system.
Sustainability Coordinator Cori Burbach and Building Services Manager Rich Russell
recommend City Council approval of the replacement of the existing City Hall HVAC
system in order to save significant potable water and energy resources. Funding
sources have been identified.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
MCVM:jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Cori Burbach, Sustainability Coordinator
Rich Russell, Building Services Manager
Michael C. Van Milligen
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Cori Burbach, Sustainability Coordinator
Rich Russell, Building Services Manager
SUBJECT: City Hall HVAC System
DATE: March 14, 2011
Dubuque
httd
AlWlmedcaCity
2007
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to request your approval of the replacement of the
existing City Hall HVAC system in order to save significant potable water and energy
resources.
DISCUSSION
In the summer of 2010, the City received funding from the State of Iowa to hire a part-
time, temporary graduate level intern to look at energy consumption. The focus of this
position was to analyze city hall operations and systems and identify opportunities for
energy savings. The city, in partnership with the State, hired a graduate level
engineering student from Iowa State University, Peter Karakas, to fill this position. The
focus of Peter's work was to look at city hall mechanical systems as well as employee
usage, enter this data into the Energy Star Portfolio manager software program and
provide a comprehensive analysis of energy use and suggestions on how to reduce
usage and the carbon footprint of city hall.
In reviewing this report one area in particular stood out related to our existing HVAC
system. Currently, City Hall uses nine units to heat and cool the air for the building.
Three of the units are air cooled and the remaining six units are water cooled and use
potable tap water. The water cooled HVAC system for city hall draws water in, circulates
through the system and then dumps the water down a janitor sink in the basement. This
water is unmetered and unregulated. However, a sampling of the HVAC system
estimates that approximately 12 million gallons of water is dumped annually, which is
greater than some of our existing water users such as a hospital. If metered, the cost of
this much water would be $21,186.82 in water fees and $42,240 in sewer fees for a total
of $63,426.82. In addition, this costs approximately $5,000 in chemicals to treat this
amount of water each year. Finally, this improvement will result in energy savings,
though we are unable to calculate exact savings due to the age of the existing system.
In addition to providing an operational savings, this will reduce the carbon footprint of
city hall operations.
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS
In reviewing the CIP for the replacement, there is $75,000 budgeted in Fiscal Year 2013
to replace two air handling units for the third floor and adding a cooling tower to the
exterior of the building. These new air handling units will address the increasing issue of
heat in the traffic control center which houses a significant amount of IT equipment. In
addition, the cooling tower would capture and reuse water and a significantly smaller
amount of water would be dumped into the sanitary sewer system. In reviewing the
costs with Budget Director Jenny Larson, we would like to recommend that this
improvement be implemented this year using the following funding sources:
• $32,000 from the General Building Maintenance CIP. This amount is
currently available to fund this project.
• $43,000 or remaining expense from the Energy Efficiency & Conservation
Block Grant (ARRA funds). City Council previously approved $25,000 to
fund municipal retrofits and $25,000 to fund municipal energy audits;
$18,000 of the audit fund could be shifted to the municipal retrofits
category with no effect on the overall grant requirements.
RECOMMENDATION
We respectfully request your approval of the replacement of the City Hall HVAC system
using existing CIP funds and available EECBG funds.
Cc: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Jenny Larson, Budget Director
Paul Schultz, Resource Management Coordinator