FACILITIES ENERGY REVIEW & PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

As a result of its eligibility for a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the City of Overland Park, KS desired a thorough review and evaluation of its facilities to identify opportunities to reduce its ongoing operating costs. sys-tek assisted the City of Overland Park in this evaluation in the 2nd quarter of 2009.

As part of this evaluation, sys-tek reviewed nine (9) buildings totaling approximately 400,000 square feet, including the City Hall, two Justice Centers, two Public Works Buildings, two Community Centers, and Fire Training facilities. For each facility, sys-tek completed the following tasks:

• Reviewed utility bills from the past year to identify potential trends in energy consumption and to benchmark the performance against similar buildings.
• Reviewed historical building drawings to develop an understanding of the design intent for the building as it changed over time.
• Walked through the facility with Building Engineers to review existing building conditions, and to understand where inefficient building conditions existed.
• Reviewed building automation systems to identify potential energy efficient control methods.
• Analyzed collected data to develop recommended energy efficiency improvements.
• Documented all data and recommended improvements in a Final Report. Report included a prioritized list of all recommended projects in format suitable for submission of Federal Grant.

The result of this Energy Audit identified 37 projects that could be implemented to reduce operating costs by $104,000 / year. Projects were identified by building and were prioritized so that limited grant funds can be targeted to the most effective uses.

In addition, sys-tek identified maintenance and operational improvements that can be made to maximize the life cycle and operating efficiency of existing assets.

Projects are anticipated to be implemented in the 4th quarter of 2009 after Grant Funds are approved for use.