Nov 4, 2019 3 min read

Washington & Jefferson College’s Center for Energy, Policy and Management (CEPM) recently presented findings from an energy audit to South Strabane Township officials.

According to Max Clark, research specialist with CEPM, he and a W&J student researcher, Kellie Lesniak, primarily went through the township’s utility bills, from 2016 to 2018, for three buildings – the municipal building, police station and public works facility.

Clark said the study, which was no cost to the township, took place over the summer and used Energy Star Portfolio Manager to collect and compare data for the township’s buildings with other similar size and use buildings in the nation. CEPM presented its findings to the township Oct. 22.

“It’s an energy bill tracking system,” Clark said. “The township’s buildings are performing fairly well, but there’s definitely room for improvement at the municipal building.”

He said because the public works building, on Floral Hill Rd., and the police station, on Smith Drive, were built in 2013, they are performing well when it comes to energy consumption.

“Generally, newer buildings will perform better,” he said. “The public works building is a garage with large bay doors that open and close all day long. They put up partitions within the garage to section it off, so that in the winter, it keeps the cold air from coming in and circulating throughout the entire building.”

Clark said the municipal building, which was built in the 1960s and sits off Route 19, was more “problematic.” The building’s Energy Star score dropped from 2016 to 2018, he said, and from 2017 to 2018, the building’s energy costs rose by nearly $3,000.

“That could be related to several different things, but it just shows that there’s room for improvement,” he said.

As part of its presentation CEPM recommended the township make “behavioral” changes like turning off lights, unplugging appliances that aren’t in use and replacing outdated appliances that aren’t energy efficient. Clark also said the township could potentially improve its utility bills by replacing windows and doors and switching to LED light bulbs.

“We did recommend further auditing, by having an actual engineer come in to find more specific opportunities to improve within the building,” Clark said.

South Strabane was the first municipality CEPM worked with on a utilities study. Township manager Brandon Stanick said the township would “digest” the energy audit and “move forward.”

“Primarily, it’s behavioral modifications that could be made,” he said.

Since its beginning in 2012, the CEPM has worked with organizations like the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., Local Government Academy in Pittsburgh and with natural gas development, research and data analysis, according to Corey Young, the director of CEPM.

He said he’s hopeful the organization can “adapt” its experience working with the shale gas initiative to “energy efficiency and resilience and sustainability at the municipal level.” Clark said while they don’t have “anything specific lined up,” they do want to continue working with municipalities on similar projects.

“We do feel like this was a very successful project with South Strabane, and it could be applicable to other municipalities,” he said. “We would like to provide technical assistance to municipalities, and there are a lot of avenues we could take in the future, not just energy audits.”