Haas Continues to Push Energy Audit Proposal

Third Ward Councilman Dave Haas continued his push for an energy audit of town-owned buildings by e-mailing colleagues Friday proposing that a firm specializing in energy audits of municipalities be invited to address the council.

Haas e-mailed his council colleagues, along with Mayor Andy Skibitsky and Town Clerk Claire Gray, with a PowerPoint presentation Metro Energy Solutions of West Caldwell gave to the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions discussing the firm and the general concept of energy audits. In the e-mail, Haas said he had talked with firm executives and said they were willing to discuss energy audits at an upcoming council workshop meeting. At the June 16 meeting of the council, Haas, who has been pushing for the creation of a town environmental commission, called for an energy audit.

Haas said his current proposal involving Metro Energy was a follow-up to the council's decision to move forward with the creation of a green team, a group of town employees and elected officials overseeing environmental policy, over the creation of an environmental commission.

"The decision has been made for now on what form the environmental commission/green team," he said. "It will be the green team and I wanted to move to the next step."

After hearing the presentation from Metro Energy, Haas thought the firm would be a good group to present information about the audit to the council. He stressed that he was not endorsing the hiring of the firm as an energy auditor and that he'd want the decision on an auditor to be made through an open bidding process.

Haas said he had heard from Skibitsky on Monday that the mayor would prefer for Metro Energy to make a presentation to the green team rather than the council. Under the terms of Sustainable Jersey, the statewide environmental program the town entered on June 16, the green team will oversee all programs relating to the program and environmental policy. The group will be chaired by Town Administrator Jim Gildea and consist of town employees along with some volunteer members. Haas said Second Ward Councilwoman Vicki Kimmins has been pushing for his appointment to the green team but he has not heard back from the mayor on this issue.

Haas said Skibitsky told him that he believed the green team would be the best place to hear the issue right now. The councilman said he told the mayor he disapproved of the decision. Skibitsky has had conversations with the Board of Education, which recently completed an energy audit, on the benefits of such an audit and what steps the town would need to take to conduct an audit.

Haas said he projects the town could save tens of thousands a year with an energy audit, which would analyze the town's energy usage along with determining steps to reduce the costs of energy usage. In addition to this audit, Haas would like the town's entire carbon footprint analyzed.

"I think an energy audit and a carbon audit should be the first thing the green team undertakes," he said. "It would look at vehicles and other things that cause carbon emissions."

Metro Energy specializes in working with governments in conducting energy audits and consulting on energy usage around New Jersey. Peter Pirrello, the firm's vice president for business development, said the firm routinely meets with local governments to discuss energy audits. While some of the meetings are with councils, other meetings are with town staffers and green teams.

He said Metro Energy, which is the energy consultant for the state and five counties, would undertake a audit which would involve analyzing the town's energy bills and consumption in various seasons and then doing several days of onsite evaluations in order to determine a action plan. The Metro Energy proposal differs from advice Gina Baker, the director of sustainable development for international architecture firm of Burt Hill and a national expert on green buildings, provided in an interview last week. Baker proposed a long term audit over the course of a year in order to see actual usage during different weather conditions. Pirrello said Metro Energy has found their approach to work well.

Pirrello said an energy audit from the firm would cost a minimum of $10,000 but he could not give a firm price for Westfield, because he would need to know the exact numbers of municipally-owned buildings, the square footage and age of the buildings.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has a program which will allow the state to fund the entire cost of the audit, in two installments. Seventy five percent will be funded up front and the remaining 25 percent will be funded if the town implements the audit report. If the program should be cut, Westfield's membership in Sustainable Jersey will give the town priority in being able to receive funding from the BPU.

While he said he could not provide a cost he said the audit would provide a financial benefit to the town.

"It helps them with budgeting over several years," he said of the audit report. "It can be a combination of ways to save money and make sure things run well."