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Perkasie looks at energy savings
May 06, 2010
By Emily Morris
Managing Editor
Perkasie Borough continues to look at energy savings this month, considering both an energy audit and the option of installing solar panels in the borough.
The idea came after the firm EnergyChek approached the borough offering its services as a way to help the borough save money.
Harold Stone, superintendent of the borough’s electric department, explained the firm would look at six borough buildings – the borough hall on Chestnut Street, the Menlo Aquatic Center on Arthur Avenue, the Police Department and Public Works building on Ninth Street, the electric department on Seventh Street and the fire hall at Fifth and Arch streets.
Olpere said the firm uses a variety of equipment to analyze the efficiency of windows, motors, HVAC systems, electrical systems and more.
Stone said the borough has several older buildings, but some have seen renovations, like the borough hall which is the oldest building but was most recently renovated in 2002, that may not result in much chance of savings.
“I don’t think they’re gonna find a whole lot of ways to save at the borough building or the police department,” Stone said.
Stone also said most of the buildings are completely up to date electrically because of the borough’s in-house department.
EnergyChek was awaiting the borough to provide square-footage numbers for each building to be surveyed so it could provide a price for the energy audit for borough council to consider.
If the borough did choose to do the energy audit, Olpere said EnergyChek also helps prepare requests-for-proposals (RFPs) from firms to complete the work needed.
Olpere said the borough would also seek requests on energy audits from other firms, but noted that many firms also sell certain systems like HVAC and so are more likely to be trying to sell a product.
EnergyChek originally contacted the borough to see if the borough would recommend the firm to businesses in town seeking energy savings. Olpere said the borough would not do that, but the firm then offered its services to the borough.
Councilman Jim Purcell reported at the May 3 meeting that the borough also looked into the option of adding solar panels to some borough buildings to see if it could realize an energy savings, but the answer so far seems to be no.
“It just didn’t pan out as far as payback,” said Electric Department Superintendent Harold Stone. “It’d be a big investment as far as money itself and it would just be awhile until you’d see that payback.”
In fact, too long of a while, Purcell said, noting the typical payback suggested on the panels is about 10 years. Instead, the borough would be looking at a 20- or 30-year period until the panels paid for themselves in certain locations, and at that point, Stone said, the borough would likely need to replace the panels anyway.
One way of making the panels more worthwhile is seeking grant funding, Stone said, but most grants the borough staff has found require some matching portion from the borough, which is simply not available at the moment.
Estimates showed the borough could offset about 30 kiloWatts of energy per year if it placed solar panels in the lower parking lot behind the borough building on Chestnut Street to try to offset electric use in that building. However, the borough building uses nearly twice that in a year, Olpere said, which would mean the panels would take about 20 years to pay for themselves at the current cost.
“If we can’t get our money back, then we’re not gonna do it,” Purcell said.
The borough also looked at solar panels as an option at the Menlo Aquatic Center and Lenape Park, but that also showed too long a payback period.
“It’s not looking good,” Purcell said. “It’s very expensive. We’re trying to get our house in order to see if we can save as much as possible in other ways.”
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