Sustainability Projects and Opportunities
EECBG Overview
In 2009 the City was allocated $984,500 under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program to pursue projects that generate energy savings, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs. The EECBG program was created by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is administered by the Department of Energy. At the end of 2009, the City of Fairfield received its official award to implement the following projects:
Citywide street and pedestrian light conversion and retrofit project. The City allocated a little more than $800,000 in EECBG funds for the conversion and retrofit of the City’s street and pedestrian lights from high-pressure sodium to induction. In addition, the City will marry these funds with a $3.0 million in low-cost energy efficiency loan from the State to to convert the City’s entire inventory of lights. Please see below for more information on the project.
Municipal Sustainability Plan. While the City of Fairfield has implemented numerous energy efficiency projects in the past and continues to opportunistically pursue new projects. The City desires to craft a plan that will address all the ways the City can invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy in order to save money and reductions in greenhouse gases by using less electricity and natural gas. The City hopes that this will plan will serve as a catalyst for the community to pursue energy efficiency projects that will generate costs savings, reductions in greenhouse gases, and stimulate the local economy.
Energy Efficiency Outreach and Education. Energy efficiency is a tried and true path to reduce energy consumption, save money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The City of Fairfield is partnering with a number of local agencies to facilitate the implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. To this end, the City has allocated $50,000 in block grant funds to provide education and outreach about the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable and all the resources that are available to pursue these kinds of projects.
For additional information on how the City is spending its EECBG funds, please contact Dave White in the City Manager’s Office at 707.428.7659.
Street and Pedestrian Light Conversion Project Overview
The City allocated $800,000 its EECBG funds to the conversion and/or retrofit of the city's street and pedestrian lights from high-pressure sodium to induction. This project will be accomplished in phases. The first phase, a complete inventory of the City’s street and pedestrian, was launched at the end of February 2010 when the City posted its Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP can be found at the following. Subsequent to the inventory, the City will solicit the services of a firm to install the lights and then move to construction. The project is anticipated to be completed at the end of 2011.
At completion, based on a preliminary analysis, the City anticipates savings of more than 1.5 million KwH of electricity and cost savings from reduced energy use of approximately 40% or $240,000. This does not include the savings to the City’s capital budget by using outside resources to replace lights and the personnel savings from reduced maintenance. As the inventory is completed and the City narrows the project, electricity and cost savings will be updated
Please check this site periodically for updates on this project. The RFP for Citywide Street and Pedestrian Lighting Inventory Project page contains more information and details about the project. For additional information about this project, please contact Garland Wong in the Public Works Department at 707.428.7698.
