CU hears conservation proposal

City Utilities staff and the city board heard a presentation from leaders at Frontier Associates LLC, the Austin, Texas-based company hired in late 2005 to develop an energy conservation strategy.

After a $225,000 process that included surveying residential, commercial and industrial customers, site visits and meetings with city leaders and the general public, Frontier announced that eight programs had passed a cost-benefit test.

Among the proposed programs: more efficient lighting programs, residential refrigerator recycling and more efficient cooling systems for commercial and industrial customers.

CU’s next step is to determine which of the suggested programs to implement first. CU General Manager John Twitty said CU staff members should be able to present a list of their recommendations to the board along with the annual operating budget proposal in July. Some of the programs could be available by Oct. 1, the beginning of CU’s new fiscal year.

If all the programs were to be implemented, Frontier estimated that costs of $37.4 million through 2017 would create benefits of more than $76 million over the life of the programs.

Click here for the full story from April 24.