The City of Durango leads by example with sustainability efforts

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DURANGO, Colo. – When it comes to sustainability, the City of Durango is one municipality that has discovered it’s not so difficult to “institutionalize” an environmentally conscious culture.
Call it Earth-friendly; reducing the carbon footprint; going “green” – Durango is among one of the most progressive towns in the state of Colorado when it comes to making a difference with environmental awareness and practices.

“I think it’s important for us to look at the two separate components. One is acting as a good ‘business’ in our community – sustainable and environmentally friendly,” said Greg Caton, Durango’s assistant city manager, noting that Durango is a significant local employer with 550 full and part-time employees. “And the other is providing information to the community, to encourage them to do the same.”
Durango is approaching the effort on a number of fronts – some small, some more significant – but these efforts are and will be adding up in a big way. The most visible endeavor is likely the city’s recycling program, which includes both residential curbside and commercial and multi-family collection, as well as drop-off locations.
“The recycling program started in April of 1990,” said Nancy Andrews, the city’s resource conservation coordinator. “For communities of our size in a remote area, in 1990, it was a pretty progressive thing.”
“I think it (recycling) is one of those things that has evolved over time too,” added Caton, noting the recent additions of hazardous waste collection and electronics recycling days, the latter of which is scheduled for April 25 and 26 at the Durango Recycling Center, 710 Tech Center Drive.
The city also sells composting bins and recycles yard debris and glass to be used as mulch.
“We’ve been recycling the waste oil at the service center for about 10 years,” said Roy Petersen, director of general services, referencing the Bodo Industrial Park facility that houses and maintains city vehicles. “We’re also building a wash bay that has water recycling capabilities.”
 

Further in the automotive realm, the city invested in hybrid vehicles in 2001, and in 2004 Durango’s fleet – including city refuse trucks and the Big Red Trolleys – made the conversion from 100 percent diesel fuel to an 80-20 percent mixture of regular diesel and biodiesel. Biodiesel is a clean burning, biodegradable fuel made from a renewable resource such as soybean or canola oil. The city’s biodiesel – provided by Brennan Oil – happens to be soy-based. By the city taking the lead and guaranteeing a market for biodiesel, Brennan Oil could justify installing a pump for the community at the Exxon station at Main Ave. and Park.

The city as a “customer” has taken the lead in support of “Green Power” – purchasing electricity generated from a renewable resource (such as wind, small hydro, photovoltaic or biomass) from La Plata Electric Association. In 1998 Tri-State Generation & Transmission, from which LPEA purchases its electricity, responded to requests from LPEA and other member distribution co-ops to include a green power option as part of its available resources to end-use consumers. The city of Durango seized on the opportunity, and became the first governmental entity in LPEA’s service territory to take part.
Initially, the cost to purchase Green Power was a premium of $2.50 per 100 kilowatt-hour (kWh) block per month, so it was difficult for the city to justify spending taxpayer dollars for the entire electric bill. Still, the city committed to cover 10 percent of City Hall’s usage. When the Green Power rate dropped to $1.25 per 100 kWh block in January 2007, the City Council and staff made the decision to go 100 percent “green.”
“They did so with the caveat that LPEA work with the city on energy efficiencies in the various city-run facilities,” said Sue Maxwell, LPEA project specialist, noting that the Green Power premium has since been further reduced to $.080 per 100 kWh block. “And so that’s what we’ve done.”
The process began late last spring as LPEA officials established a “plan of attack” for the more than two dozen facilities, which vary in size and are located throughout the town – from the Durango-La Plata County Airport, to a pump station on 29^th Street. LPEA and City staff members meet monthly to review the analysis and make suggestions for changes.
“We have six LPEA electrical demand meters currently in place,” says Petersen, “They are helping us sort through all of this, and helping to cut the peaks and smooth valleys out of the usage, to get us some consistent band for our electricity that is less expensive.”
The first completed analysis was the ice rink at Chapman Hill, which allowed for a reduction in the rink’s peak demand by shifting the electrical needs throughout the hours of operation. The City will realize an estimated annual savings of $4,700, based on 2008 rates.
 
The recycling center was next on the list. LPEA adjusted the rate from large commercial to small commercial, and placed the center on the “time-of-use” program that separates on-peak and off-peak rates to help balance the electric load. The electricity used during the off-peak period is billed at a considerably lower rate than the regular rate.
“These changes made at the city’s recycling center will save $3,500 annually,” said Maxwell. “And, by implementing the same efforts at the Bodo Park service center (garages and office), an additional $1,500 annually will be realized. At the 29^th Street pumping station, $2,200 will be saved annually through electricity demand management.”
LPEA’s review of facilities has continued into 2008, with the potential for more efficiency and dollar savings to become evident as appropriate measures are implemented. The total savings to the City at the close of 2007 was $11,900.
“We’re also changing out light bulbs and we’re turning some light bulbs off,” says Petersen, noting that it adds up. “And we’re using motion detectors.”
And more possibilities exist. Aviation manager Ron Dent is exploring grant possibilities to finance the cost of replacing the runway lights with the energy efficient, and long lasting light emitting diodes or “LEDs.”
Further, at the wastewater treatment plant at Santa Rita Park, electricity has been generated on a small scale from the methane gas produced in the treatment process. This has been used to heat the building, but the effort will be expanded in 2008 to generate additional electricity.
“Regarding storm water retention, we’re designing landscape areas so run-off of storm water flows into the landscape areas and irrigates those areas, as opposed to designing it to run off the landscaping,” said Andrews. “This has been done at our new Police Department substation in Three Springs.”
“Probably the biggest thing on the horizon in the near future is digital controls for building environments, so we can actually program the building heating/cooling system to operate at optimum efficiency,” said Petersen. “We’ll be replacing the heating/cooling system in City Hall in 2008, installing compact, efficient roof-top units that we can program. For instance, in the Council Chambers; if there’s no activity in there, it won’t be heated or cooled.”
The new Durango Public Library will also include this HVAC system, but that’s part of an entire “package” as the library will prove to be the proverbial “Cadillac” of “green” building. It is being built to Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.
“The decision was made early on and I think that investment up front will save us money down the road,” said Caton. “But it’s also the right thing to do.”
Caton noted that solar panels will be installed at the Durango Community Recreation Center in 2008 to heat the swimming pool.
“The payback on that is pretty short,” he said.
“And the Rec Center has always been on electronic digital environmental controls,” added Petersen. “So it was efficient right from the start.”
With 14 different facilities to manage, plus a rental location, efficiency efforts can be challenging, but to aid the effort, last fall the city formed the Green Team. It includes individuals representing all the facilities.
“The Green Team has recommended some small policy type changes to the City Manager such as paper recycling,” said Andrews, noting that the recycling program cannot accept brights or fluorescent papers. “So it’s getting those papers out of our offices because they can’t be recycled. Simple things like that.”
And there’s more to be done. The city has dedicated $65,000 in the 2008 budget for sustainability efforts.
“We’re institutionalizing that environmentally conscious culture,” concluded Caton.