An employee of the local electric cooperative, also serving as the city’s mayor, used his knowledge of electricity and energy efficiency and his commitment to his community to help the city of Cortez cut its energy use at the 26,000-square-foot city recreation center.
Working with other officials, Mayor Orly Lucero and the team were able to install solar panels to cut the electric bill and implement long-term energy management at the rec center. The changes will save the city of Cortez $30,040 annually in utility costs and lessen the impact on the environment.
The state-of-the-art facility houses a competition lap pool, family pool, resistance pool, tube slide, fitness area, gymnasium, racquetball courts, child watch facility, rock wall and additional rooms for exercise classes and community activities. The problem has always been the significant water heating costs.
While researching ways to reduce energy costs, city officials discovered a valuable funding source and an energy service company to help achieve this goal.
Good timing and a collaborative effort by city officials resulted in a financially backed sustainable project. The key players in this effort were: City Manager Jay Harrington; Grants and Special Projects Administrator Chris Burkett, who completed the Mineral and Energy Impact Assistance Grant application; Park and Recreation Director Dean Palmquist; Operations Coordinator Dan Jones, who created the capital improvement plan to help determine the center’s energy needs and accepted bids from technical energy auditors that could implement energy measures to produce long term savings; General Services Director Rick Smith, who helped with the performance contract; and Cortez mayor and Empire Electric employee Orly Lucero ,who presented the grant and sealed the deal.
“State funding helped make this project possible on a much larger scale than could have happened without it,” Palmquist stated. “The city has benefited because the GEO supports energy efficiency efforts like this one.”
Following an energy audit, city officials reviewed options and made their selections. System upgrades chosen will provide energy savings of 15 to 20 percent each year with a 13-year simple payback. This translates to the city saving $32,380 per year: $12,000 in natural gas, $17,500 in electric savings, and $2,340 in operational and maintenance cost savings.
Next Generation Energy installed 96 solar panels on the center’s south facing roof that supplement heating for both domestic and pool water and reduce the load on natural gas-fired atmospheric boilers. This technology uses a heat-transfer fluid (glycol) moving from the solar panels to a circulating pump and heat exchanger centrally located on the second floor.
Heat is moved from the main domestic water system to the leisure pool. When this pool reaches a comfortable 86-87 degrees, the third system kicks in to heat the domestic and lap pool to 80-82 degrees. The separate systems are designed to automatically transfer heat as needed.
“Peak sun hours in the winter vary from three to five hours per day, while the summer hours can extend to 12 hours per day,” Jones explained. “Water temperatures heat up faster in the summer and require less energy to reach requirements.”
System upgrades include a lighting redesign that addresses an under lit pool area. Occupancy sensors were installed in the restrooms, office area and other rooms to prevent lighting unoccupied areas.
Three variable-frequency drives added to two pool pumps and the gymnasium save on energy usage. The pool pump drives reduce flow during the night when the pools are not in use. The VFD in the gymnasium air handling unit reduces fan speed in partial load conditions.
Air heating was upgraded to include a single HVAC control system placed on the existing IT network so trained maintenance staff can access, modify or troubleshoot the system; and a heat recovery unit added to the air unit in the center’s locker rooms to condition the incoming ventilation air.
Utilizing renewable energy and the expertise of city staff and resources such as the local electric cooperative, the city of Cortez was able to reduce its energy use and improved the delivery of consistent heat at the Cortez Recreation Center.
—Bobbe Jones