The City of Oakdale (Metro CERT affiliate since 2008) is a regional leader in civic sustainability thanks to the leadership of its City Council and Environmental Management Commission (EMC). In 2008, the EMC took the first step by committing to quantify the city’s carbon footprint and use that information to seek opportunities for emissions reductions.
To help meet this goal Oakdale joined the ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) Cities for Climate Protection Campaign. ICLEI is an international association of local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development.
In joining the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, the City of Oakdale pledged to undertake five milestones:
- Conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast of the city.
- Establish a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.
- Develop an action plan with both existing and future actions.
- Implement the action plan.
- Monitor and report progress.
The first step toward measuring emissions was to inventory the energy use of the public buildings in the city, including wells, water towers, and lift stations. The city used software provided by ICLEI to take those buildings’ energy usage data and turn it into an emissions inventory. Once this was complete, the EMC set emissions reduction targets for each sector in the city’s operations, including buildings, vehicle fleet, water/sewage, signal lights, and waste. The overall goal was set at a 13% emissions reduction from 2007 levels by 2013.
With those goals identified, the city began energy assessments on its public buildings. Those assessments, completed through Xcel Energy’s ConservationWise program, uncovered a number of conservation opportunities in each building. These opportunities included the following actions: furnace and air conditioner upgrades; roof replacements and insulation; boiler replacements; and enrollment in Xcel Energy’s Saver Switch’s_Switch_for_Business_-_MN program. Since City Hall was already scheduled for a roof replacement, Oakdale decided to use the opportunity to install a white roof and upgrade insulation in the building. The city received a rebate from Xcel Energy of $586 for installing the white roof, based on the estimated energy savings from a reduced cooling load for the building. The added insulation will also reduce heat loss in the building, so the estimated energy savings from the new roof are approximately 845 kWh and 750 therms per year, totaling $32,000 in energy savings over the life of the roof.
Home Improvements
In addition to making improvements at the city level, residents were also encouraged to reduce energy consumption in their own homes. Oakdale was selected as a participant in the One-Stop Community Energy Services pilot program, administered by the Center for Energy and Environment (CEE). Metro CERT was also a partner in the pilot program, assisting with the organization and outreach of workshops. In the fall of 2008, the city held workshops where residents learned about energy efficiency and conservation opportunities for their homes, focusing on low and no-cost actions. Attendees received a number of free materials, including compact fluorescent light bulbs, low-flow showerheads, programmable thermostats, pipe wrap, faucet aerators, gasket seals, power strips, LED night lights, and LED holiday lights. They also had the opportunity to sign up for a home visit with CEE’s energy consultants, during which they would conduct a walkthrough of the home and install energy-saving equipment. 59 households in Oakdale signed up to participate in the pilot, which later grew into the broader Energy Efficient Cities program.
A Much Needed Upgrade
In the spring of 2009, with support from U.S. House Representative Betty McCollum, the city of Oakdale applied for and received $400,000 from the federal government and United States Congress to complete much-needed energy efficiency improvements at the community’s Public Works and City Hall facilities. The funding was a part of the Energy and Water Appropriation bill of 2010, signed into law by President Obama in October of 2009. This project continued progress toward reducing the city’s energy consumption, resulting in cost savings for taxpayers while also reducing the city’s overall carbon footprint.
“Receiving the federal funding really drove home the importance of partnership in taking on these projects,” explained Jen Hassebroek, Senior Community Development Specialist with the City of Oakdale, “We couldn’t have made the energy-savings improvements to City Hall and the Public Works building without the support of Representative McCollum.”
As part of this project, a geothermal pump system was installed to heat and cool the Public Works facility, taking advantage of the adjacent water filtration station to provide water for the geothermal condenser loop. The garage bay doors were replaced with higher R-value doors to reduce heat loss in the warehouse space, which was modified to allow for in-house servicing of city vehicles, including the city’s fire trucks. Other energy efficiency upgrades included replacing all the remaining high-pressure sodium and T12 fluorescent bulbs in the facility with T8s and improving the building’s insulation. At City Hall, the HVAC system, which was more than 20 year old and very inefficient, was replaced with an energy-efficient rooftop air conditioner and new boilers. The estimated annual energy cost savings between the two facilities is approximately $13,000 per year.
The city also received an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) in 2009 of $50,000 from the Minnesota Department of Commerce as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funding was used to create a revolving loan program for residents of Oakdale, called the Residential Home Energy Loan Program (R-HELP). This fund allowed residents to secure a 0% interest loan for up to 3 years to complete specific energy efficiency improvements to their homes including furnace, air conditioner, water heater, and insulation upgrades.
The city did targeted outreach for the loan program to residents in areas of the city with older housing stock, but there was some difficulty in getting large numbers of residents to take advantage of the program. “The challenge in this economic climate was that residents have been reluctant to take on additional debt,” Hassebroek commented.
A Solar-Powered City Hall
After spending years working on reducing energy consumption, the city decided to embark on a project to install a solar photovoltaic system on City Hall. The 40 kW system was completed in April 2012 and uses panels from Minnesota-based tenKsolar. The city took advantage of Xcel Energy’s Solar*Rewards*Rewards_-_MN program and the Made in Minnesota rebate to reduce the overall cost of installation. The system is estimated to produce approximately 53,000 kWh of electricity annually, which represents approximately 12% of the building’s average yearly consumption. This would save an average of $5,075 per year—or $126,874 over the life of the system—and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 49 tons. This is the second system of its kind in Oakdale; the first was installed at Transfiguration Church in the fall of 2010. According to Hassebroek, it was again a matter of finding the right partners and taking advantage of timely opportunities that really helped to get the city’s solar project completed. “The City Council and EMC were really committed to making this project work, and they took the time to find exactly the right partners who were able to make solar energy a reality in Oakdale,” said Hassebroek.
GreenStep Cities and Beyond
Having already taken so many steps toward sustainability, Oakdale was a great candidate for the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program—a voluntary challenge, assistance and recognition program to help cities achieve their sustainability goals through implementation of 28 best practices. The city’s Generation Green commercial building program is even featured as an example of a best practice under the “New Green Buildings” category. In April of 2011, Oakdale was designated as a step one GreenStep City and continues to take action to build a greener community and reduce its environmental footprint.
For the city of Oakdale, energy projects have offered practical solutions during a time of budget constraints, helping to meet the city’s energy needs without sacrificing its development priorities. “The reason the city decided to take on these projects is two-fold,” said Hassebroek, “we were looking for cost-efficient ways to reduce our city expenses and we wanted to meet our environmental goals at the same time.” The projects have generally been cost-effective; the state and federal funding the city received helped to offset the higher upfront investments for more efficient systems that will result in lower recurring energy costs, saving the city money in the long run.
Project Profile:
- Location: City of Oakdale, Washington County
- Types of technology: Energy Planning: benchmarking, GreenStep Cities; Energy Efficiency: insulation, residential energy efficiency loan; Renewable Energy: geothermal, solar PV; Community Education: residential energy efficiency workshops
- Description of the project: City of Oakdale sustainability initiatives, including residential, commercial, and governmental CO2 emissions reduction programs.
- Estimated Savings: $32,000 in lifetime savings from the new roof & insulation + $13,000/year for Public Works geothermal system & other efficiency upgrades + $5,075/year for the solar array
- Project Funding: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant program ($50,000); Federal appropriation funding ($400,000); $50,880 City Funds
To learn more about this project, please contact Jennifer Hassebroek, Senior Community Development Specialist for the City of Oakdale, at [email protected] or 651-730-2723.
Other Local Government Energy Action Community Engagement Stories:
- Stewardship a cornerstone for City on the Lake: White Bear Lake shares sustainability practices
- Elk River provides energy education, outreach and audits with Project Conserve
- How green is your community? A step-by-step Minnesota sustainability program is helping cities
- Neighborhood Energy Service worked to save energy in the homes of St. Paul residents
- No such thing as the bus rider blues: Linden Hills Power & Light’s Public Transportation Initiative
About the Local Government Energy Action Series:
This year-long effort tells the stories of nearly 50 Minnesota municipalities, counties, and schools and the tangible results of their energy-saving efforts to inspire others to take their own actions.
Local Government Energy Action is brought to you by the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources.
