[Senate Hearing 111-725]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-725
BLUE, GOLD, AND GREEN: HOW DELAWARE
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE
CUTTING THEIR ENERGY COSTS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION, FEDERAL SERVICES, AND
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE
of the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
of the
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
FIELD HEARING IN WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
__________
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
__________
Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
______
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56-841 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JON TESTER, Montana ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
PAUL G. KIRK, JR., Massachusetts
Michael L. Alexander, Staff Director
Brandon L. Milhorn, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Trina Driessnack Tyrer, Chief Clerk
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION,
FEDERAL SERVICES, AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware, Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois
John Kilvington, Staff Director
John Collins, Legislative Aide
Bryan Parker, Staff Director and General Counsel to the Minority
Deirdre G. Armstrong, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statement:
Page
Senator Carper............................................... 1
Prepared statement:
Senator Carper............................................... 31
WITNESSES
Friday, February 19, 2010
Hon. Jack Markell, Governor, State of Delaware................... 5
Chris Coons, County Executive, New Castle County, Delaware....... 14
Roy Whitaker, Chief of Buildings and Grounds, Seaford School
District, Delaware............................................. 19
James Baker, Mayor, City of Wilmington, Delaware................. 25
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Baker, James:
Testimony.................................................... 25
Prepared statement........................................... 46
Coons, Chris:
Testimony.................................................... 14
Prepared statement........................................... 39
Markell, Hon. Jack:
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 34
Whitaker, Roy:
Testimony.................................................... 19
Prepared statement........................................... 44
APPENDIX
Charts referred to by Senator Carper............................. 50
BLUE, GOLD, AND GREEN: HOW DELAWARE
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ARE
CUTTING THEIR ENERGY COSTS
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management,
Government Information, Federal Services,
and International Security
of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., at
the Carvel State Office Building, 820 North French Street,
Wilmington, Delaware, Hon. Thomas R. Carper, Chairman of the
Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senator Carper.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER
Senator Carper. Welcome, one and all, to our hearing. We
will be joined by others as the day goes on. Governor Jack
Markell is kind enough to be with us until about 11 or 11:15
a.m.. We will promise to have him out the door by then.
I remember some wonderful memories of being in this room
and announcing some exciting initiatives in the past and to be
able to be with our governor today and to hear what the State
of Delaware is doing to lead the way in important areas, is a
source of real joy.
The last few years have underscored the need for our Nation
to rethink the way we use energy. Ever-changing energy costs
and our Nation's severe economic problems have resulted in
families, homeowners, and businesses all taking a very hard
look at how they are spending their resources--and governments
should be no different. In fact, they are no different.
Last month, I held a hearing of this Subcommittee in
Washington to explore what the Federal Government is doing to
save energy and money for our taxpayers. Late last year,
President Obama issued an Executive Order calling for the
Federal Government to step up its efforts to conserve energy by
challenging agencies to meet a number of energy, water, and
waste reduction targets. Each Federal agency is required under
that Executive Order to develop plans to reach those targets,
and we expect initial reports on the status of these plans
later this year.
One of my former staff members used to say, the cleanest,
most affordable form of energy is the energy we never use, and
I fully subscribe to that and so does our President.
We learned in our hearing, though, that the Federal
Government is the single largest energy user in the Nation. In
fiscal year 2008, the total energy consumption of the Federal
Government in all of our buildings and operations was roughly
1.5 percent of all energy consumption in the United States. The
energy bill for the Federal Government that year was just under
$25 billion, or about one percent of total Federal
expenditures. Of that roughly $25 billion, over $7 billion was
spent on energy to operate Federal buildings alone, and with a
price tag that large, there are significant opportunities for
savings of taxpayers' dollars. Following our hearing, the White
House announced that over $10 billion would be saved over the
next 10 years because of the Federal Executive Order, and that
is real money that we are talking about.
While the President's Executive Order represents an
important step forward, there is a lot more that we can do.
Making better use of new financial tools is just one example.
Energy savings performance contracts are a creative way to pay
for energy efficiency projects, and these contracts work, as
you may know, by having a company pay out of their own pocket
to renovate a facility with energy-efficient retrofits. The
company's contract is then paid back out of the energy savings
generated from the renovations, which otherwise would not
occur.
This means that governments can reduce their energy use,
can help clean up the environment, can cut back on money that
they have to spend for heating and lighting, and do it all on
someone else's dime. To me, that seems like a very clear win
for really just about everyone.
I believe that several of our witnesses today have
experience with these types of contracts and I look forward to
hearing their thoughts and suggestions on how those contracts
can be used most effectively, not just in Delaware, but across
the country.
There is an old saying that goes something like this: You
can't manage what you can't measure, and that applies to energy
use, as well. At a recent hearing, I learned that using
technology such as advanced metering is one way we can save
energy and money. By connecting facilities across an
organization and monitoring buildings, or even parts of
buildings, on their energy use in real time, managers can make
more effective decisions. The best part about advanced metering
is that it pays for itself in less than a year. Do we have a
chart that shows that?
Mr. Collins, where are you from?
Mr. Collins. Townsend, Delaware.
Senator Carper. Where did you go to school?
Mr. Collins. University of Delaware.
Senator Carper. A Blue Hen?
Mr. Collins. Yes.
Senator Carper. That is great. What kind of degrees do you
have from there?
Mr. Collins. I have an international relations degree and a
Master's in Public Administration.
Senator Carper. All right. Well, we have a chart that shows
what the pay-back periods are for a couple of different
approaches for energy conservation, and the top one there
says--renewable electricity, and it looks like the payback time
there is how many years? Eighteen years.\1\
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\1\ The chart referenced by Senator Carper appears in the Appendix
on page 50.
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Coming on down, what is the next one?
Mr. Collins. The building envelope.
Senator Carper. Building E-N-V, building envelope. And it
looks like the payback there is about 9\1/2\ years. What is the
next one, HVACs. The payback is about 7 years. Lighting,
payback is about six years. We spend a whole lot of money. A
lot of our utility money just goes for lighting, and there is
great stuff, as the governor knows, that is going on right here
in Delaware by small companies and by big companies like DuPont
to help us cut dramatically our lighting bills.
What is the next one, co-gen? Co-gen payback on co-gen is
just under 5 years. And look at that last one, advanced
metering. It is not 2 years, it is not 1 year, it looks like a
couple of months. And so what we are talking about is a real
return on investment, a wonderful return, and the kind of thing
that we want to incentivize. But thank you for joining us.
Wal-Mart uses this technology, advanced metering
technology, because they understand the financial savings that
it brings. From their headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas,
they will know if a freezer door is left open for too long at
their operations in Middletown, Delaware.
And it isn't just an idea for big businesses, either. Later
this year, Delmarva Power will finish installing advanced
metering systems for all of its approximately 300,000 customers
across Delaware. This technology will provide greater
transparency for energy users, allowing them to better manage
their energy use to save money and help protect and preserve
our environment.
As a recovering governor, I know that Washington doesn't
have all the answers. In fact, we may not even have most of
those answers. In my time as Chairman of the National Governors
Association, I have seen the importance of sharing solutions
and best practices, not just between the States, but between
the Federal Government, our partners in State, and local
government, and to learn from one another.
The challenges we face in Washington are often dealt with
first in State capitals, cities, and small towns across our
Nation. And today, perhaps no problem looms as large as the
impact that the ongoing financial crisis has had on government
budgets, both local, State, and at the national level. In the
face of significant budget shortfalls, State and local
governments are looking for ways to cut their operating
expenses, just as we are in Washington.
Delaware is no different. In fact, from Woodburn to
Wilmington to Wyoming, Delaware governments understand that
saving energy isn't just good for the environment, it is good
for the bottom line. And when I say Wyoming, I mean Camden,
Wyoming, not the State.
It is important to remember the cleanest, most efficient,
and cheapest energy is the energy you never use, as said
before. Governor Markell certainly understands this. The
Executive Order will be introduced, I believe, this week, and
which he will speak about, in a few minutes, creates clear,
ambitious goals for making Delaware State Government leaner and
more efficient, combining fiscal responsibility with
environmental responsibility, while nurturing the State's
burgeoning clean energy economy. It is a clear win for
Delawareans.
Later this morning, Chris Coons, our Chief Executive or
County Executive of our State's most populous county, will be
with us. He also understands the link between energy efficiency
and fiscal responsibility. Coming into office, he faced a
budget swollen from the real estate bubble of the last decade
and recognized the need to rein in spending. He has led an
effort to not only save energy and money, but to improve the
quality of service provided to the people of New Castle County.
As well, the City of Wilmington and the Seaford School
District have both been nationally recognized for being energy
pioneers. Seaford School District, which I visited myself many
times, is a shining example for what dividends a commitment to
energy efficiency can have not for just small towns, but for
small school districts.
The City of Wilmington, too, has shown how government can
successfully work together with businesses and developers to
achieve these goals. It is clear we have a number of lessons to
learn from our partners in the State and in our local
government.
During these times of mind-boggling budget deficits,
governments need to find every way that we can to better manage
our operations and finances, and we also need to find ways to
put Delawareans back to work.
In closing, let me just add, the scope of assets held by
State and local governments is wide. By leveraging buying
power, making wise and prudent use of taxpayers' dollars,
governments can provide secure demand for sustainable small
businesses and for entrepreneurs.
With that in mind, I want to thank our first witness
especially, our governor, for really a superb job that he is
doing as our Chief Executive. It has been a joy, as I said to
him privately many times, to work with him and his
administration. We are interested in learning how the rest of
us, other States, but the Federal Government, as well, can
learn and benefit from what we are doing in Delaware. So thank
you for being with us today.
I was kidding earlier. I said, normally, we don't swear in
our witnesses and ask them to take an oath that everything they
say is the truth, and we are not going to do that today,
either, because I believe it all.
Right behind him is our Secretary of the Department of
Natural Resources and Environmental Control. I just want to say
welcome to Mr. O'Marra and thank him for the great job that he
is doing. Thank you.
Governor Markell, it is all yours.
TESTIMONY OF HON. JACK MARKELL,\1\ GOVERNOR, STATE OF DELAWARE
Governor Markell. Well, thank you, Senator Carper, for
holding this field hearing here in Delaware and inviting me to
participate today.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Governor Markell appears in the
Appendix on page 34.
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We stand at a critical juncture. We are working hard to
make our economy stronger, but we still have too many of our
fellow residents out of work. State revenues are down
significantly at a time when our citizens need government
services the most. And this reality has really forced us to
develop new and innovative approaches to stimulating economic
growth and to making strategic investments that are going to
produce long-term results.
Now, fortunately, Delaware's economy has some strengths
that will help accelerate our recovery. We have a proud
tradition of innovation. We have the four Cs--chemicals, cars,
credit, and chickens--which have led the Nation for
generations. But in the past year, we have had setbacks, like
many parts of the country, with the closure of two automobile
plants, layoffs in the financial services sector, and the
shutdown of a large refinery. Yet despite this, we remain
confident in our future.
We are seeing the emergence of a fifth C, clean energy or
clean tech. In Delaware, when we talk about environmental
sustainability, we are really talking about creating good-
paying jobs, many of which cannot be outsourced. We are talking
about the greening of the economy to make ourselves more
economically competitive as we move toward a low-carbon future.
An important first step toward emerging as a clean energy
economy is embracing energy efficiency and conservation in our
homes and businesses and new buildings, and as you said, the
best savings is the energy we don't use. And beyond that,
investments in greater energy efficiency put people to work now
and it pays dividends for the future.
Every dollar that is wasted from inefficient energy usage
is a dollar that is not put to work getting our economy moving
in the right direction. And for every million dollars we invest
in energy efficiency, our economy can actually produce 15 to 25
jobs, in addition to substantial long-term savings.
And for this reason, a key focus of our energy agenda
during my first year in office was, in fact, energy efficiency.
So during 2009, we made numerous improvements to State law with
respect to energy issues, including adopting progressive
building codes. We also passed the Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Act of 2009, and this legislation established
Delaware's new Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, and that
is a requirement that all electric and natural gas distributors
in Delaware reduce consumption by 15 percent by 2015. That will
save taxpayers money on their energy bills. And we are also
working with our Public Service Commission to protect taxpayers
and ensure that the savings are passed on through to the
customers.
In addition, we worked to pave the way for more solar,
photovoltaic, and wind systems in municipalities and
subdivisions, and we adopted some needed changes to metering
requirements, allowing people who invest in renewable
technologies to reap more rewards for their foresight.
Now, these new improvements in public policy energy
infrastructure were the principal drivers for Delaware being
nationally recognized this past summer by the American Council
on an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). I had the pleasure of
going to the National Press Club in Washington to speak on our
State's behalf because Delaware was recognized as the most
improved State in the Nation with respect to programs aimed at
improving energy efficiency. And while we were recognized as
the most improved, we also know that we have got a ways to go.
And it is clear that in addition to making sure that we have
got the right incentives, the right laws, and the right
policies on the books, we have got to do more to walk the walk.
And for this reason, putting our own house in order and leading
by example is a top priority for us this year.
So just this past Wednesday, 2 days ago, I signed Executive
Order Number 18, and we call it the Leading By Example
Executive Order, which is exactly what we, in government, ought
to be doing. So let me just talk about what the order does. It
specifies that new State construction will be built to the
Silver standard, or its equivalent established by the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Council.
Second, it sets a target for State agencies to reduce their
energy consumption by at least 10 percent by the end of fiscal
year 2011, 20 percent by the end of fiscal year 2013, and 30
percent by the end of fiscal year 2015. It requires audits of
State facilities for energy efficiency opportunities. We
establish a system and procedures to benchmark, to monitor, and
to track the energy use and carbon emissions of all State-owned
and State-leased facilities.
It sets a goal for purchasing 30 percent of the State's
electrical energy needs from renewable sources by the end of
fiscal year 2013. It specifies a 75 percent diversion rate for
solid waste leaving State facilities through reducing, reusing,
and recycling waste products.
It sets a goal of reducing petroleum consumption by 25
percent, vehicle emissions by 25 percent, and vehicle miles
traveled by 15 percent by the end of fiscal year 2012. It
specifies green computing practices that will save both money
and paper. And it requires more sustainable purchasing
practices and policies.
Now, these actions are anticipated to save the State
significant money in the coming years, but also to create jobs
and significantly reduce the environmental footprint of State
Government. And by being smarter about the way we use and buy
energy, we can enjoy significant savings.
So as one example, the Division of Facilities Management in
the Office of Management and Budget created what we call an
Energy Aggregation Partnership. The partnership totaled the
demand for electricity of many of the State's facilities and a
reverse auction was conducted to purchase the electricity for
these facilities. The end result was an estimated $22 million
in savings in electrical costs over the 3-year life of the
contract compared to existing service provider rates. The
aggregation partnership includes counties, municipalities,
school districts, and is now beginning to plan its second
iteration of bidding, which will potentially save the State
even more in energy costs in the future.
But government cannot do it all. We need to leverage
private outside investment, and now with the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act, we have got substantial help coming from
Washington, and I want to thank you specifically, Senator
Carper, for doing everything you have done to advance our cause
in Washington.
And while the Recovery Act was a blessing last year on a
number of fronts, the assistance and focus on clean energy is
especially appreciated. We need to use this opportunity to
transform our economy and the focus in the Recovery Act on
clean energy and jobs is just the sort of shot in the arm that
we needed in Delaware.
Now, another key is allowing innovation to flourish. One of
the truly innovative ideas coming out of Delaware is the
concept of a Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU). Now, under the
leadership of State Senator Harris McDowell, Delaware created
this utility to provide energy efficiency and renewable energy
services to Delawareans across the State.
SEU is an innovative means of providing energy services to
residents and businesses alike and will be the principal
distributor of Federal Recovery dollars which are dedicated to
energy efficiency. Under its new banner, which is ``Energize
Delaware,'' the SEU is, in fact, a model for the Nation and we
are proud to once again be leading in the provision of energy
services.
Now, one significant task for the SEU will be to implement
the results of the audits conducted under the Leading by
Example Executive Order. Through use of the SEU's bonding
authority, we can retrofit State buildings, some of which are
over 30 years old, including this building, to update the
systems that provide heat, air conditioning, electricity, and
water. Now, these improvements are going to save taxpayers
money. They will result in new jobs for Delawareans. And they
are not going to require any up-front expenditure by State
Government, thanks in part to the Recovery Act, which will be
used to help pay for these improvements. And it will, in fact,
bring jobs to Delaware.
Through innovative public-private partnerships, we hope to
catalyze substantial private sector investment in the energy
efficiency technologies and services. So today, in Delaware, we
are seeing a lot, dozens of great building projects that
demonstrate the opportunities to incorporate energy efficiency
and sustainable elements into new construction. I have had the
chance to attend several events dedicating LEED buildings,
including multiple LEED Platinum projects.
Now, while some people have raised concerns about the
increased costs of building green, some local builders have
recouped the additional investment in less than a couple of
years. But just as important as the savings is the fact that
these construction jobs and construction projects produce good
paying jobs. We are committed to finding creative ways to move
beyond the handful of LEED projects and help ensure that we are
greening more of our projects in the State, helping all of our
residents benefit from sustainable design and construction and
supporting good paying jobs for years to come, and that is
really the final point that I want to make.
We should not think of our efforts to modernize facilities
and adopt cleaner energy as simply an environmental initiative,
although it is that. But it is also a jobs initiative. In
Delaware alone, we are seeing some of the most exciting
innovations in the State emerging in the fields of energy
efficiency, renewable energy, building materials, alternative
fuels, and advanced transportation. As you mentioned, lighting.
So we are seeing companies like White Optics--another is
PTM, insulated ductwork, B.F. Rich, windows--all of them
producing great technologies that reduce energy consumption and
generate rapid savings. Another exciting company, Motech,
recently purchased the former G.E. solar plant and is making
photovoltaic panels here in Delaware. DuPont has a series of
products that will make solar panels more efficient and
dynamic, particularly as the next generation innovations in
thin film come to the market. W.L. Gore, DuPont, and Ion Power
are leaders in the fuel cell industry. Autoport is converting
traditional vehicles to electric. And Blue Water Wind is
planning the first offshore wind farm in the Nation off the
coast of Rehoboth. The list goes on and on.
One of the best examples of our innovation economy is the
repurposing of Delaware's two automobile plants. The Chrysler
plant in Newark has been purchased by the University of
Delaware and will be the home of groundbreaking research. And
at the former GM plant, Fisker Automotive is going to
manufacture their plug-in hybrid sedan with the help of a
critical loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.
In each case our State's responsiveness and commitment to
business success resulted in a positive outcome for Delaware
workers and a growing innovation economy, and we are working
hard to achieve a similarly successful outcome at the Valero
facility in Delaware City.
So throughout Delaware, we are fostering a vibrant,
functioning market for cutting-edge companies not only to
succeed, but to put people to work making things in Delaware.
It is not enough to create demand for energy efficiency and
renewable energy technologies. We have also got to be
thoughtful about maximizing the economic benefits from these
initiatives. We cannot trade our dependence on foreign oil for
a new dependence on Chinese-made solar panels, on Japanese
electric vehicles, and on European wind turbines. We have got
to work to seize these economic opportunities here at home.
And for this reason, I ask that the Congress continue to
look at ways to help American companies succeed in serving
these emerging markets. We need to create an innovation
ecosystem where entrepreneurship can flourish. We need to use
every ounce of American ingenuity to strengthen the economy for
the next century, and it is not enough to just innovate, but we
have got to scale up the production here at home and to deploy
these technologies.
We, in government, have an opportunity to stimulate the
market demand through thoughtful procurement goals. We need to
expand the loan guarantee programs that are providing the
critical access to capital to help companies grow. We need to
allow companies to invest in the research and development that
will drive future innovations. We need to support domestic
manufacturing. We need to help train the workforce so local
residents are equipped to enter these new, exciting fields. We
have made some progress in Delaware, but there is a lot more to
be done.
And I do want to recognize the excellent efforts of New
Castle County, Kent County, Sussex County, the City of
Wilmington, our local governments, a number of school
districts--Milford, Cape Henlopen, Smyrna, Brandywine,
Appoquinimink, Caesar Rodney, Christina, Sussex Tech, Seaford--
our local universities and colleges for all their notable
actions to implement green technologies and improve energy
efficiencies in the schools they are building or renovating.
And I would be remiss if I didn't publicly and proudly
recognize the great efforts being led by my colleagues on the
panel today, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons,
Wilmington Mayor Jim Baker, and Roy Whitaker from the Seaford
School District. They have been statewide leaders in these
issues.
So I thank you for the opportunity to present this
testimony. More importantly, I very much appreciate your very
clear commitment, which has been demonstrated over a number of
years. Before the title of green energy and green technology
was really bandied about, you were not just talking about these
things, you were doing something about them. And the fact that
you continue to be a leader for us in the U.S. Senate is a big
deal for the country, but it is also a very big deal for
Delaware. We are very grateful to you for it.
Senator Carper. Thank you for those kind words. Thanks very
much for your testimony and thank you very much for walking the
walk and providing the kind of leadership that you are and that
Delaware is now providing.
I want to just go back and start off by asking you just to
reiterate again the steps that the Federal Government can take
to support and to be, if you will, part of the wind beneath the
wings of the State in the State's efforts in these regards.
Governor Markell. Well, I think there are a few things. I
mean, first of all, the loan guarantees can be very significant
because when you think about these projects being built out,
and particularly in the renewable arena, whether or not these
projects get built out in this country is largely dependent
upon two things. What is it that taxpayers pay? And the second
is, what is it that--how much does it cost the companies to
build?
So the cost of capital is just a critical component of
whether or not the industry is going to take off here, and so I
believe that the loan guarantees are a very significant
component of that.
As you know, I was recently in Europe and it is just,
frankly, amazing that in offshore wind, specifically, that
industry is thriving. There are 800 offshore wind turbines in
Europe today. There are zero in the United States. We are a
decade behind.
And part of that is because the European governments, not
at necessarily the European Union level, but the specific
country governments recognized a decade ago what the
opportunities would be from an economic development
perspective. So in Germany, for instance, I understand that a
decade ago there were 20,000 people working in the renewable
energy sector. Today, there are 200,000.
And we have to recognize--I think it is sometimes a mistake
when we talk about all of these initiatives just from the
perspective of being the right thing to do on the environmental
side. These are also, as you have been pointing out--I think
you were talking about this as early as any public servant that
I know of--you were also talking about this as an issue of
national security in terms of reducing dependence upon foreign
oil and sending money to folks who were going to use it against
us, but also the economic development implications in terms of
job creation are very significant.
So we believe the loan guarantees are important. Your
efforts to continue to support research and development is also
important because we want these technologies to be developed
here as well as implemented. So those are just a couple of
things.
Senator Carper. Good. Thank you for those responses.
You have grappled as governor for over a year now with
dwindling revenues and the need to cut spending in order to try
to balance the State's books, and you have done, with the help
of the legislature, a very commendable job.
I had the good fortune of being governor, at least for most
of my 8 years, we had a time where it was a rising ship, rising
tide that lifted a lot of boats, including our own. But you
have really done well with the tough hand that has been given
to you.
We are trying to grapple with deficit reduction in
Washington. I am encouraged by some of the President's
initiatives in freezing discretionary non-security spending,
creating a bipartisan commission to come back to us later this
year with ideas to reduce expenditures, to put everything on
the table, the revenues, entitlement programs. Just the
combination of the two, that is a very good start.
But rather than cut the services that citizens count on, I
think it makes a lot more sense to cut out the waste and the
services that we simply don't need. You have spoken to this,
but I am going to ask you to come back to it again, if you
will. How can energy efficiency work to stabilize and reduce
operating expenses for the State? How can it help to ease
pressure on the energy bottom line? You mentioned this. I just
want you to come back and touch on it again.
Governor Markell. Yes. Well, first of all, it is a great
opportunity for the State as a State Government. It is also a
great opportunity for individuals. You talked about the
difficult challenges facing the State Government in terms of
our budget. Obviously, a huge number of people through the
State and the country are facing the same things with their own
budgets.
And so, for example, the weatherization programs that have
existed for a while but have really received a boost through
the stimulus program help a lot of people. Less energy escapes.
It requires less hot air during the one season, less cool air
during the other season escapes. It is good for our
environment. It is good for our health. It is good for people's
pocketbooks. So those weatherization programs make a big
difference.
But similarly, within State Government, it is everything
from smarter disposal of waste, because to the extent that we
are recycling rather than paying significant tipping fees for
the disposal of our garbage, I mean, it just makes sense. The
great thing about all of this area is these are win-win-wins.
They are wins in the sense of when you dispose less and recycle
more, it is good for our environment. It is good for our
health. It is good for our pocketbook. But it is also good for
creating jobs. So we are going to work hard to reduce how much
we dispose of and how much we recycle.
We are, in this building and in other State buildings,
capitalizing on a very creative program through the Sustainable
Energy Utility (SEU) where we are taking advantage of financing
that is not taxpayer financing. This is not against the general
obligation. It is not a general obligation debt of the State.
But the SEU is essentially going out to borrow. The money that
is raised through the borrowing is going to be used to make
buildings like this one much more energy efficient. We are
going to be paying less for energy and that will be the source
of the repayment of the bonds. So that is another example.
And so there are just lots of things like that, but we do
think it is just incredibly important for us to get beyond the
talk and the paperwork to real action.
Senator Carper. Thank you. I am going to ask one more
question. I think you need to be out the door in, I think,
about 5 minutes, so we will be mindful of that, but just one
more question, if I could. As our State and our Nation
transition to a new economy, new ways of doing things, it is
going to take new talents and skills for, as you said, for
Delaware students and Delaware workers. The technology
management of even 10 years ago just doesn't cut it when it
comes to meeting those new demands. I think about all the folks
that we represent who worked at the Boxwood Road plant, the
Newark assembly plant for Chrysler, who have years of technical
and mechanical expertise and are, as we know, waiting to get
back to work.
How do we bring these workers into the fold and better
ensure that they have the skills to thrive in a new economy,
and what can we do to prepare our State and our Nation's
students to make sure that they are better able to take
advantage of the opportunities a green economy will bring?
Governor Markell. Well, this is a great question and it is
an important question and it really speaks to the need to think
holistically about these opportunities, because it all sounds
good, but if you don't have the people to do the work, then it
is really for naught.
And the other great thing about it is these projects, these
jobs cannot be outsourced. I mean, we need people on the ground
here who are doing all this work.
So we have already begun to form partnerships with our
labor community, also with Delaware Tech, and so Delaware Tech
has launched a series of courses, certificate programs in
everything from energy auditing to building management to
weatherization. They are working closely with the State. They
are working closely with private industry to ensure that the
programs that they are developing mirror the kinds of job
opportunities that are available in the real marketplace.
So we have got to be mindful also of the timing. So, for
example, we need people to do the energy auditing and the
energy efficiency work today while at the same time we are
getting people or preparing people to begin the work that will
be required at places like Fisker.
We have got a very interesting specific example that I want
to mention. So right after I came into office, Alan Levin and I
awarded a grant to Autoport, just down by the Port of
Wilmington. The purpose of that grant, it was a training grant
to have a few of their people learn how to do the retrofits to
electric vehicles. So they did. They sent their folks, I think
it was to California to get trained. They then came back and
they started producing some of these--retrofitting some
vehicles for electric usage. They actually had some paying
customers.
Senator Carper. I got to drive one of those.
Governor Markell. Yes.
Senator Carper. That was so much fun.
Governor Markell. It is fun. I think they are one of five
finalists to produce electric vehicles for the Postal Service.
And so I don't know if they are going to get that contract or
not. We are obviously very hopeful that they are. But that
would not have been possible without their workers being
trained.
And so we just think all of these things fit together, and
it is certainly our view--when you talk to companies, as you
know from your experience as governor and since then, when you
talk to companies about why they would locate in Delaware
versus some other place, there are lots of factors that they
consider, many of which work to our advantage--our location,
our transportation infrastructure, the port, the responsiveness
of the government, and certainly in the case of Fisker that was
big because we were so responsive to them.
But the quality of the workforce is very high on the list.
Nobody wants to be here if there is not a great workforce, and
we are fortunate. We do have a great workforce, in part because
we have great schools. And so all of these things have to
continue to fit together. So that is my perspective.
Senator Carper. Well, great. I think you are the single
best witness I have ever had for a field hearing in Delaware.
[Laughter.]
Governor Markell. Your second-best witness is about to come
up on the stage. I mean, your new first-best is about to come
up on the stage.
Senator Carper. Well, he is going to have to work hard to
top you. But I just want to say, I like the quote I once heard
from a pastor of mine who used to say, people would rather see
a sermon than hear one, and in what Delaware is doing under
your leadership, we are actually getting to see the sermon
rather than just to hear about it and we applaud you for that
and want to be supportive of that. Thank you very much for
sharing some of that with us this morning.
Governor Markell. Thank you.
Senator Carper. And thanks for riding Amtrak, too. I
understand you are going to catch a train here in just a
minute.
[Pause.]
Senator Carper. Well, I was kidding our County Executive,
Chris Coons, saying that the governor, who has now left the
building, what a low bar he set as our witness and how easy it
will be to exceed what the governor is proposing to do and
leaving the State to do, but actually, I am kidding. It is
actually exciting and inspiring to see what the governor is
proposing in his new Executive Order and the commitment that he
brings to actually implementing the words that are in that
Executive Order and sharing with us at the Federal level what
we can do, what we have done that is being helpful and
supportive of those policies, but what we can do to be even
more supportive.
Our first witness today is our County Executive, Chris
Coons. He is a former member of the Governor's State Energy
Task Force, which worked to address the State's short- and
long-term energy goals and to bring clean energy technologies
and businesses to Delaware, along with a whole lot of other
accomplishments. He has worked tirelessly, and I think
successfully, with partners in the Federal Government to bring
energy efficiency grants and green energy jobs to Delaware and
I thank him for being here today.
He and I both share a passion for creating a nurturing
environment for job creation and job preservation. In a day and
age when we have shed in the last year so many jobs in this
country, really around the world, we need to do our very best
in creating that kind of nurturing environment. I think we are
doing that in Delaware and we thank you for your leadership in
making that happen.
A couple of years ago, when I was, I think, in my first
term as a Senator, I had the good fortune--I had heard about
the remarkable work that was taking place in the School
District of Seaford and how Seaford was serving as a model to
other school districts, really to other States, to be able to
conserve energy. And I was struck, but I learned that they
have--I think Seaford has about a half-a-dozen school
buildings, between your elementary schools and middle schools
and high schools, and Seaford is one of the school districts
where they have not just talked about extending the school
year, but actually have done so in some cases.
Among the things that Seaford has done, and I have learned
this in my visit there, that they have been able through all
the conservation investments they have made in their schools,
been able to provide air conditioned schools that can stay open
during the summer and everybody can--students can learn,
teachers can teach in an environment that is conducive to that.
And by making all the savings in energy consumption in other
ways, they have been able to not really use much more energy.
It is a pretty remarkable accomplishment. I said, boy, they
ought to be recognized nationally, and as it turns out, they
have been.
One of the people who has been just a key part of all this
is our witness here with our County Executive, Roy Whitaker,
who is the Chief of Buildings and Grounds for the Seaford
School District. I bet a lot of school districts around the
country would like to get their hands on him, but we don't want
to let you go, so thanks for being here and staying here. He
has been with the school district since 1996 and has held a
long-time interest, as we all do, in renewable energy.
In fact, he designed and fabricated a successful solar
domestic water heater during the late 1970s energy shortage. I
would just add to that, when I was a graduate student in the
MBA program at Delaware, we had an operations research course
that I took and one of our responsibilities was to design a
manufacturing operation for some kind of product. And in 1974,
my project was a plant that created solar energy panels. So you
and I are really in the same time frame, working in the same
venues. It is kind of interesting that we have intersected
again here.
During his 14 years' tenure in Seaford, Mr. Whitaker has
been instrumental in Seaford becoming only the third school
district in the Nation to receive the ENERGYSTAR Leader's Award
for reduction of energy consumption, and we salute you for
that. We applaud you for that. We are delighted to hear your
testimony as to how we can learn, at the Federal level, and be
better informed as we create national policy and fund those
policies. We look forward to what we are going to learn from
both of you today and from Mayor Baker when he joins us.
County Executive Coons, thank you, sir.
TESTIMONY OF CHRIS COONS,\1\ COUNTY EXECUTIVE, NEW CASTLE
COUNTY, DELAWARE
Mr. Coons. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for an
opportunity to testify at this Subcommittee field hearing on
energy efficiency actions by State and local governments. I am
grateful for your long and effective leadership on this issue,
going back to your time as a governor and now as a Senator, and
I am also grateful for the leadership we have seen from
Governor Markell, as we heard in his testimony earlier today.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Coons appears in the Appendix on
page 39.
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The conservation of energy and our natural resources is an
important issue, not just for New Castle County and the State
of Delaware, but for our Nation and world. As a County
Executive who represents more than half-a-million people, every
year, I have to produce a balanced budget, provide needed
services, and serve as a wise steward of public funds. In tough
economic times, people across the country are tightening their
belts and making their dollars go further, and my government is
called on to do the same.
Out of last year's operating budget of about $228 million,
we spend about $10.4 million in total on energy of all kinds.
That is from street lights and electricity----
Senator Carper. Would you say those numbers again, please?
Mr. Coons. Out of a $228 million operating budget, we spend
about $10.4 million on energy, all in. That is gasoline and
diesel for our 1,600 vehicles, that is operating energy for
roughly 50 buildings and facilities, and that is the street
lights that we are responsible for in dozens of communities in
the unincorporated county. So it is one of our largest and most
unpredictable operating expenses for energy, both for fuel and
for electricity, and one where we have made real, I think,
strong and consistent efforts to be fiscally responsible.
As we know, about 40 percent of the energy consumed in our
country goes into the operation, heating, and maintenance of
buildings, and so conserving energy through the retrofit of our
county buildings and by using more renewable sources is not
only environmentally responsible, it is fiscally responsible
and makes great economic sense in these difficult times.
As a society, all of us are called to be good stewards of
natural resources, but as a public servant, I think energy
efficiency also makes me a good steward of county dollars,
helps create jobs, and makes the world a better place for our
children. So New Castle County and my administration, in
particular, is committed to fostering economic development,
creating green jobs locally, and enhancing environmental
protections.
Our county was an early adopter of local government
sustainability practices, starting with waste reduction,
increased recycling, and by empowering my staff to take on
leadership in environmental initiatives. One of the first
Executive Orders I issued was to mandate recycling in county
buildings, something about which I know you are passionate. And
in 2007, we became the first local government in Delaware to
join the International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives, making a commitment to conduct a comprehensive
inventory of our greenhouse gas emissions and working towards a
holistic strategy to reduce those emissions.
The first and strongest prong of our efforts in that
strategy is to tackle one of the county's greatest energy hogs,
our buildings. As a pilot, we worked first on the City-County
Building, the Louis L. Redding City-County Building, which is
just immediately adjacent to this Carvel State Office Building,
a 36-year-old building which was significantly inefficient,
both because of when it was built and because of its operating
history and the significant amount of deferred maintenance.
The City-County Building is a 10-story, 192,000-square-foot
office building, and the energy conservation measures that we
implemented were done in partnership with Ameresco, an energy
services company. We have a 15-year agreement with Ameresco,
which was made possible by a facilitating bill in State law
that allowed a county procurement code to finance capital
investments in energy efficiency retrofits off the future
savings. The sorts of things that we entered into this
partnership with Ameresco to deliver are upgraded lighting
controls, new energy management systems, a replaced boiler,
chiller, and cooling tower, variable volume hot and chilled
water pumping systems, premium efficiency motors, water and gas
conservation measures, and, of course, ENERGYSTAR
certification.
Our annual operating savings projected through this
investment are about $355,000 a year. That is the equivalent in
terms of reduced emissions, these energy savings, of taking
1,150 tons of carbon dioxide per year out of the environment
and reducing the energy demand that New Castle County places on
our local grid of about 1,890 kilowatts per year.
Another important point is that this roughly $3.3 million
capital project is something that, because of our own county's
fiscal situation, we would not otherwise have been able to do.
So we were faced with a common problem in local government, an
aging building with aging critical infrastructure that we
lacked the bonding capacity at the time to invest in.
The energy savings contracting system that we entered into
with Ameresco made it possible to achieve three goals: To
upgrade our systems so that, frankly, they operated better; to
achieve energy savings; and to achieve over the long-term cost
savings.
In 2007, New Castle County completed the construction of
our largest and newest and in some ways most expensive
building, the Corporal Paul J. Sweeney Public Safety Building.
There is a small graphic of the Sweeney Building to my left. It
is on Route 13 in Minquadale, just south of the City of
Wilmington. This roughly $48 million building is a state-of-
the-art public safety building that integrates police,
paramedics, and our 911 center, as well as several other public
safety disciplines, under one roof. It received a Silver rating
from the U.S. Green Building Council under its Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Rating
System. And that took a great amount of work and design and
investment by New Castle County.
There are many features of the building described in very
small detail on the graphic that help it achieve that LEED
Silver certification. Principal among them, a geothermal pump
system consisting of 30 pumps that are buried underneath our
parking lot that have 400-foot-long pipes that go up and down
at various times using an alcohol-based liquid to either
capture heat, subsurface geothermal heat during the winter, or
relieve some of the heat from the building during the summer.
It also has a lot of features--electrical sensors for
turning off lights in rooms that are unoccupied, using
skylights to maximize natural light within the building,
reusing gray roof water, rainwater, or gray water for all the
bathrooms in the facility, and many other energy efficient
aspects to its heating, air conditioning, and ventilation
systems.
We also reused and recycled the site of the former county
police headquarters and separated out and recycled most of
those building materials, thus getting a Silver certification.
Due to the vital public safety activities that are housed
in that building, it is not uncommon for a building such as
this to be a very large consumer of energy. But through the use
of these green technologies and the disciplines that the LEED
Silver certification forced us to go through, we reduced both
our environmental impact and the annual operating cost of the
building.
Last, after these initial successes with the public safety
building and the city-county building, we decided when the
stimulus was enacted a year ago to jump with both feet into
doing a countywide energy efficiency program. We again used
Ameresco to do an energy performance audit of all of our
facilities and to establish a baseline for setting and
measuring progress over time. The purpose of that audit was to
prioritize and rank our different infrastructure investments to
find the best return on investment for reducing energy demand.
We found 158 different conservation measures across more than
20 county facilities and nearly half-a-million square feet of
building space, which includes two rooftop solar installations.
This will allow us to undertake a comprehensive countywide
partnership with subcontractors in specific trades and local
materials here in New Castle County. We have also partnered
with DelAccess, which is an organization that helps in terms of
outreach for small, minority, and women-owned businesses. We
believe this project will ultimately create 156 green local
jobs, and we are going to invest $3.8 million in Federal
stimulus funds which we are leveraging with $4 million in
county bond indebtedness, which we will either finance through
our traditional AAA general obligation county bonds or through
a zero percent interest Renewable Energy Tax Credit Bond
program that is currently being offered by the Department of
Treasury.
We have a whole range of improvements that are being
planned through this initiative, which will include lighting
retrofits and new controls, energy management systems, premium
efficiency motors, heat pumps, boilers, cooling towers, a whole
range of different improvements that across all of New Castle
County should allow us to reduce CO/2/ emissions by 11.8
million pounds per year, equivalent to that amount of offset.
That is the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road or the
power to heat 240 homes across Delaware.
We are also going to be working with Ameresco to educate
the community about the benefits of renewable energy and energy
efficiency projects, hoping to set an example, not just for our
citizens but also for our private sector and general business
community.
Our savings should be about $450,000 a year in energy for
New Castle County through this stimulus-funded countywide
initiative, and in all, these initiatives should pay for
themselves in 20 years or less. That was the benchmark we set.
Some of them pay for themselves in just 3 or 4 years. Some of
them take up to 20 years.
There is also intangible benefits to these investments--
health benefits, for example, for our workers, by improving air
flow, increasing natural lighting, or decreasing volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), in their work spaces.
I, if you don't mind, Senator, will take this opportunity
to make a few comments, as well, about how this experience was
positive and more difficult for us. I strongly support the
Obama Administration's initiative to invest in our Nation's
energy infrastructure through the stimulus and we recognize the
daunting task of rapidly ramping up such a large investment in
energy infrastructure. But we also saw some real challenges for
us.
Understandably, when you are trying to disburse this large
an amount of taxpayer funds, you have to take strong efforts to
maintain transparency and to ensure that they are appropriately
accounted for. But in respect to the disbursement of funds from
the Department of Energy (DOE) to New Castle County, they did
not have sufficient staff, either career personnel, or
contractors, to handle some of these initiatives. Our initial
application for EECBG was filed in July 2009. The release of
funds didn't occur until December 2009, and through that 6-
month review, our application went through three different DOE
staff and a contractor, each of which requested different
information and we had different hurdles to get through. That
has produced some significant frustration in our local
contractor community just because of the delay.
Frankly, I think in New Castle County, we also have to own
some of that delay due to our own internal purchasing and
procurement process. Again, when using public funds, we
recognize the importance of transparency. But we were somewhat
frustrated by the timing that it has taken to get this money on
the street.
A second comment, if I could. The Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, allocates amounts to
municipalities across this State and the country, in some cases
in very small amounts. Arden, Odessa, and Townsend, for
example, got $20,000. Newport and Bellefonte, $30,000. Delaware
City, $35,000. So to try and help make that more efficient,
make it go farther, we invited Ameresco to work with New Castle
County and those municipalities to pull them together and allow
them--which State code allows--to piggyback on New Castle
County's contract with Ameresco, so that instead of having
these small municipalities spend that money on an RFP process
or going through their own procurement process, they could
piggyback on the work that we had already done and partner with
us, hopefully, or with the State's Sustainable Energy Utility,
to achieve rapid investments that would actually see real
results rather than just investing in a paper process.
At the end of the day, our partnership with Ameresco, our
work in partnership with the city and with the State, with
Honeywell and with the SEU have been very positive, and I would
like to applaud the Administration and your leadership,
Senator, in supporting energy efficiency investments at the
State and local level. It is my real hope that we will learn
from the experiences of this year and there will continue to be
investments through EECBG, because it is my belief that it
ultimately produces high-quality sustainable green jobs, a
reduced operating cost for State and local governments, and
significant benefits for our community, not just in
environmental ways but in economic ways, as well.
Looking forward, some areas where we are hoping to continue
to work together is, for example, in plug-in hybrid vehicles.
It is my real hope that the Fisker automotive plant, which you
played a role in helping get reopened, will be producing plug-
in hybrid vehicles, and I think State and local fleets are a
perfect place for them to begin. We have 1,600 vehicles in the
New Castle County fleet and I am hopeful that some of them will
be hybrids that are plug-in hybrids as that plant begins to
ramp up.
Second, local governments can encourage or even mandate
energy efficiency through the adoption of building codes that
encourage conservation. New Castle County has adopted the 2006
International Energy Conservation Code, which sets standards
for building efficiency and operation. And working in
partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's ENERGYSTAR
program, we have made real progress in measuring and delivering
energy efficiency, not just in our buildings, but in the
private sector here across New Castle County.
We have a number of buildings, as I mentioned, that have
applied for and received LEED certification--our own Sweeney
Public Safety Building, also showing some real leadership, I
think, the State's Blue Ball Barn, which got a Gold
certification, recently the Girl Scouts had a LEED Platinum
certified building out in Hockessin, but also our private
sector, P&C Bank, AstraZeneca, the American Honda Financing
Center have all achieved LEED Gold certification. It is our
hope, working in partnership with the State and with them, to
begin a Green Buildings Award Program annually that would
recognize private sector partners, government partners who have
made these investments.
There is a lot more that we can be doing together. I thank
you for your leadership in holding this hearing today. I look
forward to the comments of both Roy Whitaker from the Seaford
School District and the Mayor when he joins us. We can learn
from each other, and working together, we can invest in making
this not just a greener, more livable, more sustainable
community, but in putting people back to work and making ours a
more financially solvent and responsible community.
Thank you, Senator, for this chance to testify.
Senator Carper. You are quite welcome. We thank you very
much, not just for being here, but for the great leadership
that you and the county are providing for a half-million of us
who are privileged to live there and be your constituents.
Thank you for all that.
I have a couple of questions I would like to ask, but we
are going to turn to Mr. Whitaker next and thank him again for
joining us. We welcome your testimony. Thanks so much.
TESTIMONY OF ROY WHITAKER,\1\ CHIEF OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS,
SEAFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT, DELAWARE
Mr. Whitaker. Good morning and thank you for inviting me to
the hearing. There are three primary points of interest I would
like to make to the attendees. The three points will describe
our school district and our successes, the free and low-cost
efforts resulting in huge financial savings, and how other
school districts, government agencies, or businesses can
duplicate the efforts.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Whitaker appears in the Appendix
on page 44.
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The Seaford School District in Seaford, Delaware, is a
national average school district with six schools. We have used
the free web-based EPA ENERGYSTAR program, and particularly the
Portfolio Manager software, to successfully benchmark all of
our schools and manage them for superior energy efficiency,
resulting in current annual savings of $640,000 per year
compared to national average schools. Another benefit includes
a several-million-pound reduction in air pollution.
In summary, the Seaford School District's introduction to
the ENERGYSTAR program and ensuing partnership has enabled us
to fast track significant energy and pollution reduction
measures that are having a real and immediate impact on the
planet and budget. The quality ENERGYSTAR training program and
resources showed us how and where to start with benchmarking
and how to take our Portfolio Manager numbers into an effective
action plan that made an immediate impact.
I note that the six schools have an average age of 61 years
and our current average ENERGYSTAR rating for all six buildings
is 96 out of 100, with the 1928 school building dragging us
down just a few points. We are very proud to manage our schools
with some of the best energy performance in the country, even
when compared to the newest schools. The Seaford High School
right now is rated at 38,000 BTUs per square foot per year,
which is in the order of a brand new school with the best LEED
design.
There are a multitude of free and low-cost items that can
be implemented to initiate a path of significant energy savings
like ours. There are also many items with quick payback that
would be a part of any savings program.
One important aspect of any program would be to sweat the
small details. The small details are what make a school
environment healthy and effective for the students and staff. I
note that we have made mistakes along the way and have learned
and improved because of them. I would suggest that anyone
interested in the steps we took please review the PowerPoint
presentation on the Seaford School District website. It is
available off of the Buildings and Grounds link, or contact us.
Although the list is long, a few of the details that you
will find on the website presentation will include creating a
formal energy policy, benchmarking building performance,
managing the on-off times, and tuning the equipment. Also
important is sealing up the building envelope, avoiding
wasteful practices that consume significant energy, modifying
or upgrading existing lighting, storm windows, which at one
school saved 24 percent right off the bat, and specifying
different or better equipment when repairing or building new
facilities.
I also believe that some of the engineering practices in
even the past 10 years are not suited for the facilities of
today and every detail needs to be scrutinized. At one of our
schools, we are considering upgrading the main electrical
transformers, which are only 12 years old. The replacement will
have 2-year payback with a savings of over $1 million over the
30- to 40-year lifespan.
If suitable funding can be found, there are countless
similar investment opportunities that will produce significant
cost savings over the next few decades. To summarize this
point, the goal is to maintain an excellent indoor environment
while providing the taxpayer with substantial energy savings.
Although these tough economic times throw up roadblocks, it
will take interested and dedicated people to plan, coordinate,
and control the outlined steps to achieve significant and
consistent energy savings. It will also take the financial
partners to fund the projects that have significant payback for
many years into the future.
To take this last point full circle, we just recently noted
that the ENERGYSTAR rating was starting to drop at one of our
buildings. The Seaford School District is one of the poorer
school districts in the State and the phrase ``shoestring
budget'' applies to all of our buildings and grounds
operations. My two technicians and I are responsible for
everything from maintaining the athletic fields to what has
unfortunately been too much of lately, snow removal. Although
everything seemed to be running very well at the school, the
technicians----
Senator Carper. Let me just interrupt you. Did you have a
roof of one of your elementary schools collapse, or partially
collapse?
Mr. Whitaker. Yes. That was our West Seaford Elementary
School. Ironically, we were watching the rainstorm come for
almost 2 weeks. We saw that on AccuWeather on the long-range
forecast. I did even note to the Superintendent that we had a
blizzard coming, which we would deal with, and the rain that
came on that Tuesday into Wednesday was a problem. Monday of
that week, we actually took the ceiling tiles out of most of
our schools in the corridors and the classrooms, cranked the
heat up to 80 degrees in an effort to actually get some of the
snow melted off the roof. Our staff was also up on the roofs
Monday morning shoveling the drains, the roof drains, to make
sure as much water as we could, we could get off of them.
Unfortunately, that roof is ballasted. It has large rocks all
over the top of the roof. It is not very easy to walk on and we
didn't deem it safe or wise to try to get up there and shovel
it.
And about 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the nominal 100,000
pounds of extra weight of snow and rain did bring that roof to
a very substantial and catastrophic collapse. It took out that
area and the adjacent kitchen area and the perimeter. It was
basically a gym/auditorium/cafeteria combination, multi-purpose
room, and the entire second story, the masonry there was many
tons and that all fell on the adjacent rooms, also.
So that has been cleaned up now. They have shored up the
adjacent areas. We did have the serving line for the children
back into the gym down at the other end of the building and
that was up and operational for the return of school when we
finally got the streets cleared in Seaford.
Senator Carper. OK. What a challenge, on top of everything
else. Thank you. Please proceed.
Mr. Whitaker. You are welcome. Although everything seemed
to be running at the school, the technicians discovered a
glitch in the controls program, probably very similar to what
we have in this building here, Johnson Controls. We use the
Metasys, and it was keeping the main circulation pump running
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Where the glitch came from, we
never know, but as we are all very well aware, computers can
have a glitch from time to time and you will never understand
how or why it broke, but they do.
This single error was wasting electricity and a significant
amount of heat. If we are not looking for these types of
things, meaningful energy savings will not be maintained over
time. In conjunction with ongoing upgrades to our ENERGYSTAR
Portfolio Manager data in tracking the effectiveness of our
newer mechanical improvements and engineering test
applications, which we do from time to time, it is also very
reassuring to observe the documented energy savings by using
that free service.
I thank everyone for making it possible to share some of
our successes with our energy program and invite anyone to tour
our facilities or contact me with questions.
Senator Carper. Thanks for a great story.
Each of you have talked a bit about the partnerships that
you have entered into and the ability to use scarce county
resources or school district resources in order to get a much
bigger bang for your buck and to drive down your energy costs.
Would you just come back and just talk with us a little bit.
Our County Executive talked a good deal. He mentioned the firm
Ameresco and a couple of others, as well, as private sector
partners and all. But just talk with us about how you have
explored the possibilities for partnerships, how you entered
into these, how you feel about them, any points that you would
suggest to other counties or States keep in mind as they look
for those partnerships, as well.
One of the partners obviously is the Federal Government.
You have referred to how we sought to be a good partner through
some of the provisions of the stimulus package, but feel free
to talk about that, as well.
Mr. Coons. We have benefited enormously from several
different partnerships, as you heard from Mr. Whitaker. The
Seaford District benefited a lot from what the Department of
Energy put up in their ENERGYSTAR program, their online
resources. We also relied on that and learned a great deal from
it.
Previous to my service in the county, my work in the
private sector with a local company, we also reached out to the
Department of Energy and found that their resources, both in
person and online, made an enormous difference in getting on
top of our energy costs, the Portfolio Manager software, the
ENERGYSTAR building ratings were very helpful.
The National Association of Counties, which I am also
active with, has had a Green Government initiative that had a
very energetic staff person, Kelly Zonderwick [ph.], who
convened facilities managers and purchasing people to talk
about green purchasing, energy initiatives, investments in
facilities, and that has been quite a helpful learning
opportunity for us.
We also, frankly, had to invest in upgrading the caliber
and training of our staff. We have a new person, Barry Nane,
who is running all of our facilities and is, himself, a master
electrician and somebody who I am going to refer to Mr.
Whitaker for some partnership and ongoing learning.
Ameresco, we entered into a long-term work relationship
with through a RFP process. Honeywell is also a great company
that we have worked with in the past. Honeywell has had and
continues to have some of the operating responsibilities for
the City-County Building, a building that was jointly built,
owned, and still operated by the city and county governments,
and Honeywell has played a central role in trying to manage it
more efficiently, and I know the Mayor, when he comes, will
talk about Honeywell's role in helping the city score and
manage their investments.
We have also done a fair amount of outreach to the local
contractor community. There are local businesses, PTM
Manufacturing, for example, is one that just opened in the
Newark area that is making products that are energy efficient.
These are insulated HVAC ductwork. Where we are trying to
create business opportunities for them and jobs in our county,
by introducing them back, by getting them familiar with
Honeywell and Ameresco as companies that have billions of
dollars in contracting opportunities at the State and county
level regionally.
We also have, in the University of Delaware, a great
resource for all of us. They are a national leader in solar
energy, both in research and in implementation, and we have got
some strong local companies that have innovative installation
and servicing systems. I was just talking to Scott Johnson of
SolarDock earlier today about their rooftop solar mounting
systems. So I think as long as we continue to work together,
with your leadership, we will be able to learn from each other
and do a better job at energy efficient installations.
Senator Carper. Thank you. And, Mr. Whitaker, do you want
to talk a little bit about the partnerships that Seaford has
had with the State or with the private sector, the Federal
Government, and with a mind on what could we do better.
Particularly at the Federal level, what can we do better to
enable you to do more.
Mr. Whitaker. One of the most interesting things from the
chart you showed earlier was cogeneration or combined heat and
power. The Seaford School District is very actively looking at
a possible combined heat and power project.
Senator Carper. Who would the project be with?
Mr. Whitaker. With multiple players. The City of Seaford
actually has their own power company, one of the nine in
Delaware that are part of DMEC. So the municipal company has
rates that are maybe not as competitive with some other areas
and our costs are very high for the electric for the taxpayers.
In conjunction with that, the electricity use profile of a high
school, middle school, elementary school is completely opposite
of the average home. So when the folks at home are going to
work, our schools are just starting to turn and use
electricity. As the school shuts down in the afternoon,
everyone is now starting to come home. The air conditioning
goes on. People are cooking dinner and electric usage goes up.
So our load profile matches very good with the average
residence.
The City of Seaford has six megawatts of generating
capacity that are called antique design, old diesel
recipocating engines receps, that are very, probably,
inefficient and also high-pollution factors. They have shut
those down due to the pollution concerns. But those generators,
one of the things they also do is produce excess heat. If we
had excess heat in our school buildings, in the wintertime,
instead of maybe keeping a classroom at 70 degree, maybe we
could keep it at 72, 73, if it is waste heat.
So we are looking to actually form a partnership with an
investment company maybe to own the turbines, maybe even the
City of Seaford could own them or run them through a third
party. The school district could do a power purchase agreement.
We could buy the electricity off of those turbines at a
discount.
One of the biggest things with electrical consumption was
this electricity had to be made at a power plant somewhere and
half of the power that these lights are burning right now is
lost just getting here. So the distribution loss, the pollution
due to that is very problematic and that is what makes
cogeneration so good.
So we have a very good fit there, very quick payback, and
we could take the waste heat and put it into the classroom or
run air conditioning off the waste heat. So it is a very large
win-win. Efficiencies are very large. Cogeneration saves
approximately 25 to 30 percent. It is more efficient than
having it shipped in over the wires.
So we are trying to put a large amalgamation together now.
This is rather difficult for a school district with six
schools, myself responsible for so many areas. So if there is
any kind of a pilot project, we are looking for it. I know the
Federal Government had some combined heat and power (CHP) cogen
projects that were in the stimulus package. We have not
actually figured out a way to get access to any of those funds,
but with some proper hard-core engineering, there is a
tremendous win-win that could be put in place at the Seaford
District and could be a model for the State, maybe for the
country, and would work very effectively, saving the taxpayer
money, reducing pollution, and being a good fit with the grid
overall.
Senator Carper. I am going to ask, when the hearing is
over, if you would just spend a few minutes with members of my
staff who are right behind me and talk with them about how we
can help you better access some of those monies in the stimulus
package. That would be good.
Mr. Whitaker. Thank you.
Senator Carper. I know there are national organizations in
which school districts participate and superintendents of
school districts participate. I am not sure what opportunities
there are for someone who has learned so much, done so much in
the school district, provided great leadership, for you to
infuse your experience on to your counterparts in other
schools, other school districts across the State and across
America.
But with that in mind, let me just ask each of you, what
lessons could you pass on, or what lessons are you passing on
to other government leaders or to other school leaders to
motivate them on how to follow up, really, on your successes?
Mr. Coons. More than anything, what I tried to convey, in
partnership with several members of the County Council, one who
has now gone on to serve in Governor Markell's domestic team--
--
Senator Carper. I saw her just this morning.
Mr. Coons. You may have seen her. Stephanie McClellan now
is a policy advisor to the governor and took a real lead role
in County Council on the building codes and energy, also, in
partnership with other county executives. It is to just try and
convey the message that investments in energy efficiency are
the most productive investments we can make. The most efficient
energy we generate is the energy we save, that we don't ever
have to generate.
And so, frankly, it is both good environmental stewardship,
good economic stewardship, and good politics to invest in
energy efficiency. So if there is one simple message I have
tried to convey through organizations of county-elected
officials, it is that.
Senator Carper. We have been joined by Mayor Jim Baker. I
am going to ask you, Mayor, if you will, just come on up and
join Mr. Whitaker, from the Seaford School District, where they
have done great things in energy conservation. Welcome. We are
delighted that you are here.
I am going to ask Mr. Whitaker to respond to one more
question. He has given inspiring testimony as to what is being
done in the Seaford School District to reduce energy
consumption, to save money, and to improve the environment for
employees and for constituents and for students and teachers.
What lessons can you pass on to other folks, other school
districts across Delaware and across America? How do you go
about doing that?
Mr. Whitaker. The message has gotten out. Due to our
participation with the ENERGYSTAR program, we were also the
2007 ENERGYSTAR partner of the year. I have spoken both in
Washington, DC several times and throughout the State. As a
matter of fact, next Saturday, I will be at the Blue Ball Barn
giving a brief presentation, much more detailed than what I am
doing here.
The third point, though, in my presentation was that it
really takes the oversight and dedication of people who are
interested in the topic to bring it to fruit. I don't believe
myself showing up on anyone's doorstep would be effective. They
really have to want it from within.
So it was reassuring last December, I was in Washington, DC
for the EPA Tools for Schools Symposium on the indoor air
quality. We have practiced the EPA Tools for Schools for about
8 years now and I spoke on another topic on air quality there
just briefly, and one of the fellows came up to me afterwards,
``Oh, I am from Pennsylvania, a school district there. We
actually went to your website. We copied your energy policy and
we are doing the things that you are doing.'' And they were
having great success with it.
So the sharp young people, or sharp old people, were
picking up on those things. They are going to have success.
Senator Carper. Thank you.
We are going to wrap up in about 10 minutes or so. I want
to spend most of that time just hearing from our Mayor. I
enjoyed so much over the years as governor, now as a Senator,
having a chance to work with the Mayor, to work with the City
of Wilmington. We appreciate his testimony before a field
hearing in Philadelphia a year or so ago on the census, as we
are gearing up for the Decennial, and we thank you for that
input.
We just welcome your comments here today. The County
Executive has talked a little bit about the challenges that you
faced in the City-County Building and how to take a very old
building and try to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. But
thank you for joining us and please proceed.
TESTIMONY OF JAMES BAKER,\1\ MAYOR, CITY OF WILMINGTON,
DELAWARE
Mr. Baker. Thank you very much, Senator. It is good to be
here. Sorry to be late, but I was talking to a bunch of kids,
and when they start grabbing you, you can't get out.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Baker appears in the Appendix on
page 46.
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But I think that we have worked with the county on the
whole issue of the Louis Redding City/County building and how
to make it a LEED-type building eventually, but we can't do the
whole thing all at once so we have to do it piece by piece,
which takes forever, but we are doing it, and we have had this
cooperation.
I think the other thing is joint cooperations between the
governments from the Federal, State, and local level makes a
lot of difference in what happens. Educating the public, I
think, is critical. We signed onto the registry, the Climate
Registry, some time ago. We also signed onto the U.S.
Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement where we
pledge to beat the Kyoto Protocols target of a 7 percent
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and we are trying to
reduce ours accordingly by 20 percent instead of 7 percent by
2020. I think it is 2020. It is hard for me to talk. I am still
in the 1900s.
[Laughter.]
But anyway, we have done a lot of things and I think you
have our statement as to the various programs that we have
already set in place in terms of the Executive Order which I
issued and the things we are trying to do with our fleet and
with all our facilities, and thanks to the money from the
stimulus package, we were able to do a major program with
Honeywell and----
Senator Carper. Would you talk just a little bit about
that, please?
Mr. Baker. Yes. It is such a great project because it has
so many great elements to it. One, it obviously got us some
money to be able to do that. But it will save us, like, 25
percent of our costs at our Porter Water Filter Plant. The
solar panels that were put up will help us do that. But we
needed help from the State. We got the stimulus package money.
Honeywell did certain things with us. There were actually
people from the neighborhoods that got hired to City Council
Member Hanifa Shabazz's program. I think there were six that
got hired out of that program to work in this project.
We are also going to do our new municipal complex where the
public works and parks departments operate. We are going to do
solar there. We are doing LEDs for all our traffic lights. We
are changing our fleet where we are going to use hybrids. I am
actually driving a hybrid right now because we are trying to
make sure that we do everything possible. We have the business
community in a roundtable talking about what they are doing,
what we are doing, what we can do to change our building codes
and things like that. DuPont Company has been very helpful.
They have a lot of great products that could save us. We are
doing about 1,000 units of weatherization through the stimulus
package in our city, which will be great once we really get the
thing full roll, and a lot of people are going to get employed
and companies are going to be working.
So I think that the obvious answer from me is that the
cooperation and education are--and, of course, the finances to
do a lot of this makes so much difference. We are doing a
reverse osmosis system on our water system to clean our water
to where we will have one of the best water systems in the
country. We are also improving our combined sewer overflows
(CSOs), to prevent contamination. We are using a Real Time
Control System which only three cities in North America are
using--I think one in Kentucky, and one in Quebec, are using
the system, but it controls the water, not letting the bad
stuff go back into our waterways.
So we are going to do a major thing to make this a real
interesting place. We can't save the world, but we are really
going to do the best we can. I think you realize, too, the jobs
that can be connected to the whole issue of the environment. We
call it greening, but it is really way beyond just
``greening.''
I think the most important thing was that you saved, by the
Congress acting on the stimulus package, you saved a total
collapse, I think, economically of the country. I know all the
arguing and the gridlock and the stuff in Washington, DC, but
those of us that have to put up with that understand what you
have done, which is great for the country and its future. And
looking at education and putting the money there for our
children is just critical.
So I think in the long run, we are going to come out a
stronger Nation. Yes, we are going to go through the bad times.
I mean, our money is just as bad as New Castle County's money
and the State's money. I mean, we have deficits we have to work
with and all the pain of that. But if we really teach our
children why this is so important and what they can do for
their future, we have a greater Nation and we will be greater
than we have ever been if we really have the faith and the
belief.
And all the politics of conservatism, liberalism; I don't
care about that. It doesn't matter to me. What are the best
ideas for the country? Because when we pass away, I would hope
we are leaving a better Nation to our children than what we
have right now and that we are not able to stand before God and
they say, well, why in the world didn't you guys take care of
your country when you had it? I wouldn't want to be in that
position.
So I thank you for what you have done and also this hearing
of just discussing how we can work together. But we have done,
I think, pretty good on----
Senator Carper. I am struck in your testimony and also what
we heard from our County Executive and from Mr. Whitaker of the
value of partnerships, enabling you to leverage relatively
scarce public resources through working with the Federal
Government, through working with private companies. A number of
you mentioned Honeywell, for example. It is just very
encouraging to me to hear that.
I would like to spend the next 4 hours, frankly, just
having a conversation. Unfortunately, we can't. Our First Lady,
Michelle Obama, is going to be up the road in a suburb of
Wilmington that is Philadelphia.
[Laughter.]
As I am sure you know, she is leading a national effort to
combat childhood obesity.
Mr. Baker. This is great.
Senator Carper. I am going to go up and be with her for
that, so I need to----
Mr. Baker. Well, you are luckier than we are.
Senator Carper. I feel very lucky to have been with you and
to have heard all the wonderful, encouraging things that you
are doing.
Let me just ask from each of you maybe a final take-away.
Again, just to reiterate, for me, maybe the greatest value of
this hearing is to hear what is working in terms of what we
have done at the Federal level with the stimulus package, with
the other pieces that we have done. But let me just ask for you
again, what do you see from our perspective, the work that you
are doing with the Federal Government, what seems to be working
and what could we do differently or better to enable you to be
more effective as we try to conserve energy and save money?
Mr. Coons. On the energy efficiency side, I mean, the EECBG
program was actually enacted several years prior to the
stimulus. It was the stimulus that made it possible for funding
and flowing those funds down in a way that allows
municipalities and counties and school districts to directly
benefit, but to partner with each other, is something I would
encourage you to continue to do.
Finding ways to release the funds and share learnings from
the use of those funds more quickly is something I would
support. And ensuring that we are spending those funds locally
and giving us some support in disbursing them locally in a way
that creates and sustains green jobs, training for green jobs,
the infrastructure for green jobs locally would also be
helpful, because, frankly, our own procurement codes sometimes
get in the way of that. So those are three things I would
suggest.
Senator Carper. All right.
Mayor, do you want to add to that, please?
Mr. Baker. I agree with what Mr. Coons has said, but I
think the other thing that would really help, I know there has
been money put aside to help companies and colleges with
research and to produce. I think we really have to save the
small business community and also increase the small business
community and increase new industries. We have people here who
have come up with a great idea about putting the emergency
lights at the lower level instead of the upper levels like they
are today, and it is a big potential industry where we have it
right here in Delaware. We have the people who now can change
all of our street lights to solar rather than what they are
today.
So, I mean, there are businesses out there that have great
ideas and capability, but may not have access to the money or
the necessary research to bring it to fruition because we can't
depend on the old industries to pull our economy up.
The other thing I would say is, get the banks to loan more
money, because if the money doesn't circulate in our economy,
what do we think is going to happen? I know a lot of people who
have great projects and they can't get loans. Of course, if the
credit card companies want to give me more money, I will take
that, too.
Senator Carper. As it turns out, as you know, a lot of
small businesses, especially entrepreneurs who are just getting
started, use those credit cards to help get their funding.
Mr. Baker. Bills.
Senator Carper. That is their source of working capital, at
least initially.
Mr. Whitaker, do you want to close us out, please?
Mr. Whitaker. When I worked at Siemens Telecommunications,
I was a mechanical engineer in a firm that did electronics,
full of electrical engineers. Right now, I am a facilities man
and now responsible for public education. We are kind of the
odd man out.
The importance of that is, if we can't get the outside
resources that the Federal Government or other agencies can
provide, public education can't move forward because we are
probably the exceptional facility group. So it is just
important, I guess, to continue to spread the word, continue to
raise the bar for efficiency, raise the bar on the engineers,
hold them to the highest standards, and make them think out of
the box, but thinking has to change.
Senator Carper. Well, great. I am going to ask you, Mr.
Whitaker, if you can stay around for a few minutes. I am going
to ask you to spend a few minutes with our staff, who are
behind me. I want to thank them for their work. They are doing
great work on these fronts, not just here in Delaware, but
really for our Nation through the work we do in the Senate and
I am grateful to them for their support and energy that they
bring to these tasks.
Thank you for being the sermon, not just talking about what
you are doing but actually showing us all what can be done and
accomplished through collaboration and a lot of creativity. So
we thank you for that.
I appreciate especially the points that you have made here
at the end as how we can be more effective going forward and
how the Federal Government can be an even better partner as we
go down the road.
With that, I bid you hasta luego until the next time we get
together. Thank you again for joining us today.
I have a closing statement here. Given the time
constraints, I don't think I am going to use it. We will just
enter it for the record.\1\
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\1\ The prepared statement of Senator Carper appears in the
Appendix on page 31.
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Thank you very much, and with that, this hearing is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:02 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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