Small City - Big Beginnings
The City of Castlegar has begun its path to GHG reductions when it signed the Climate Action Charter in 2007. Its first major corporate action was in the design and construction of its new City Hall. The project entailed the removal of an old energy inefficient city building and replaced with a 12,000 sq. ft. building designed to save over 275,000 Kwh per year versus a similarly sized conventional building. This represents a savings of over 50.4% compared to a conventional building. Most importantly the new building will save 28,740 kg of GHG. The building was priced at $4.2 M and came in on budget and on time.
The main energy saver was design of a geothermal well. In addition, the building design has incorporated a number of other features including:
- building control systems for switching off lights automaticallyat the end of the day, and daylight photo sensors dimming lights automatically according to the amount of sunshine,
- thermally broken window frames with no heat loss.
- energy efficient elevator that uses 25% less power to operate than normal elevators;
- sun tunnels to provide natural light to the upper floor walkway;
- energy efficient glazing
- insulation at R-40;
- heat air exchanger
- one water temperature only for all washroom fixtures.
In addition the new building has used other environmentally friendly features including low-flush toilets, environmentally friendly recycled roof material and xeriscape landscaping.
The Building has received a 2008 FortisBC PowerSense Award for an organization that promotes or demonstrates leadership in energy efficiency design or practice.
The City has also begun other corporate initiatives on its GHG reduction program. The City has begun a public composting facility this year. It has approved a curbside recycling program to start September 1, of this year. It has applied for an ICSP funding grant to review the City's landuse and development policies. It has commissioned a Water Sustainability Management Plan and has begun installing residential water meters as a fundamental step towards water conservation. In addition the City has also undertaken new corporate processes designed at reducing our GHG. Public Works is now using a mix of bio-diesel fuels with conventional fuels for fleet vehicles. The City has established a No-Idling policy and has encouraged other members of the community to follow suit. The City has begun to mix the Treatment Plant sludge with wood chips to produce Class B compost that is suitable for City landscaping requirements. The City has also begun to install Pedestrian Crossing solar powered lights for the first time in the City and the City is retrofitting all municipal buildings such as the firehall with energy efficient lighting.
All of the above has developed very quickly for our small City and we believe it is a good example for other small municipalities just starting on their own path to GHG reductions .
