LIHU‘E — It’s only been six months since the county paid the last installment of a decade-long performance contract to maximize its energy efficiency, but Cost Control Commissioners on Monday said there would be “no downside” to looking into proposals
LIHU‘E — It’s only been six months since the county paid the last installment of a decade-long performance contract to maximize its energy efficiency, but Cost Control Commissioners on Monday said there would be “no downside” to looking into proposals for a new study.
During a discussion with Energy Extension Coordinator Glenn Sato, Commissioner Randy Finlay said the body should plan on giving Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. a recommendation to send out a request for proposals for a new performance contract at its next meeting, scheduled for July 13.
The previous contract, which was the first ever in the state, was negotiated with energy services company Honeywell in 1995, executed in 1996, and saw retrofit work done in 1997.
It cost the county about $640,000 but returned more than $760,000 in savings before it wound down in December 2008, Sato said in an e-mail. In a phone interview, he said the program paid for itself and was therefore a success.
The old contract covered 29 smaller county facilities like community centers and police and fire stations, but did not include any work to “big-ticket items” like the Civic Center — which had just recently been acquired and had generally up-to-date technology — or Department of Water facilities.
The Department of Water — which accounted for 40 percent of the county’s energy bill last year — is a “semi-autonomous” agency that is self-funded, so any project involving that infrastructure would need to stand alone, Sato said.
Other long-payback projects were bundled with attractive fast-payback ones across various county agencies to include more into the program and maximize savings. Department of Water improvements, however, were projected to take too long to achieve a break-even point so they “fell by the wayside.”
In an interview outside the commission meeting, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s Ed Nakaya, who accompanied Sato during the discussion and outlined the county’s relationship with KIUC, said investing in long-range payback projects could preclude the county from spending additional money after technological breakthroughs.
With a slew of factors to be considered and high-efficiency technology continually marching forward, deciding when to spend money on infrastructure improvements is akin to a family deciding when to buy a new computer.
How a new contract — which Sato said would be a “huge task” — would deal with the Department of Water remains to be seen, but Sato told the commission that in the 14 years since the last study began, much equipment has gotten older and many procedures have been adjusted.
“Over time, everything changes,” said Sato, of the Office of Economic Development. “I would say right now, it’s time to re-look at everything that we do. … I would highly recommend that we look at doing it all over again.”
Finlay ran the meeting because Chair Tore Wistrom resigned late last month.
In his May 26 resignation letter, Wistrom said he has “very much appreciated the opportunity to work with the other commissioners and with administration [sic] in looking into cost savings for the County of Kaua‘i.”
“My personal travel needs have changed, and I will not do justice to the other commissioners, not [sic] to the county to stay on as the chair, or as a member of the commission,” he wrote in the letter, which noted his address in Medina, Minn. “I would only be able to participate in very few meeting [sic] during the remainder of my appointment, which ends this year.”
John Isobe, county Boards and Commissions Office administrator, said the county is looking into Wistrom’s replacement.
For more information, visit www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com.
