Nob Hill Neighbors --
If you've been following my email updates or the news, you know
that Councilor Benton and I introduced a resolution last spring that
would require the City to generate more of our energy from renewable
sources.
To do that work we needed to know how much we spend on
energy in the City and how much it would cost to retrofit for a
cleaner and more balanced energy load. Our staff went to work this
summer to find out. Working with Consolidated Solar Technologies of
Albuquerque (CST), a solar energy firm which has been contracted by
DMD to provide an analysis of existing City facilities that could be
retrofitted with solar technology, as well as with RBC Capital
Markets, the City’s financial advisor, which prepared the attached
financing model, here's what we found:
- The City of Albuquerque uses 131,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of
energy a year (!) - but just 2.98% comes from renewable sources
- At least 38 city facilities could be retrofitted for solar to
generate 25% of our energy from solar and renewables
So how do we do it?
It will cost $45 million to retrofit those
facilities. While that sounds like a lot, federal programs and finance
options make them much more affordable than most city building
projects and we can pay for it from the savings in the City's
electrical bill.
The bottom line: we can be a
cleaner city and save taxpayers money.
This is a BIG DEAL for building a clean city and
I'm excited for you to see the full presentation on what we found and
how we do it.
Join us tonight at the City Council
meeting at 5pm (or watch at home on GOV TV-Comcast 27) to hear from
the experts.
- Pat
A few other quick notes:
Projects
underway:
Silver
Avenue Improvements through Nob Hill
East Central is seeing some big developments, but what's happening
with the Desert Sands hotel after those summer fires? I talked
to Aaron Drawhorn at KRQE about next steps for that big property. KRQE
Story
|
