Posts Tagged energy consumption

Roseville Library Re-Opens with Great Fanfare

The newly renovated Ramsey County Library-Roseville threw open its doors Saturday morning to hundreds of excited visitors of all ages. The daylong celebration gave patrons a chance to explore the new spaces and enjoy food, live entertainment and environmental presentations.

The Roseville Library is the state’s busiest and serves 2,000 visitors a day. Patrons check out 1.7 million items per year. With the $18 million expansion, the new library space is 73,000 square feet, more than twice the old space.

The fun won’t stop after the opening celebration! Look for a whole summer of “green” programming at the library in Roseville. With programs presented by experts from Ramsey County Environmental Health, Simple, Good and Tasty, Natural Built Home and more, this summer is all about being environmentally friendly at the Ramsey County Library in Roseville.

Green Building Facts About the New Roseville Library

  • The newly remodeled Ramsey County Library in Roseville is leading by example with deliberate inclusion of environmental and economical design elements that will reduce energy consumption by 15 percent and water consumption by 30 percent.
  • Ramsey County Library is applying for LEED Gold certification for the $18 million project.
  • Through the use of raingardens, a large rainbarrel and underground filtration systems, the Library is collecting and filtering stormwater onsite, protecting the watershed.
  • There is preferred parking for carpools and fuel-efficient vehicles. There’s more parking for bikes, as well. There are a total of 27 bike parking spots in the bike racks.
  • The library was designed to be highly efficient. Improved mechanical systems, roofing materials and windows means the state-of-the-art HVAC systems will consume 15 percent less energy than a similar building.
  • Sophisticated lighting controls and reduced-wattage fixtures result in substantial maintenance and energy savings. Large windows throughout the building also allow natural light to penetrate into the building, resulting in less electrical use.
  • Low-Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emitting adhesives, paints, carpets and wood were selected to improve indoor air quality.
  • Library water fixtures, including toilets, sinks and urinals, are low-flow. These low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce water consumption inside the building by 30 percent.
  • There are more than 30 native plants, trees, shrubs and perennials planted on the site that are well-adapted to the climate and soils of the region, and require less irrigation. The raingardens provide onsite stormwater filtration and reduce surface runoff from paved areas, allowing us to collect, filter and protect our water.
  • More than 75 percent of the original building was reused:
    • When you walk on the second floor, you are walking on the original roof.
    • The fireplace in the children’s area is the original, it’s just been resurfaced.
  • More than 97 percent of construction waste was recycled or reused, meaning it was kept out of our landfills.
  • Many of the materials used in the building came from within a 500 mile radius.
  • More than 95 percent of the wood in the Library is sustainably harvested and Forest Stewardship Council-certified. Some of the floors were made from recycled glass and recycled rubber.
  • Each bench in the Children’s Reading Garden is made from 704 recycled milk jugs.
  • The chairs in the children’s room are made out of recycled yogurt containers.

Building a Heart – The Roseville Library Renovation Project from CTV North Suburbs on Vimeo.

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No wasted energy

Dakota County will receive $658,400 of Recovery Act funds as part of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.

The funds will be used for five different projects within the county to help reduce energy use.

The funds will be used to conduct energy audits of all major county facilities. Dakota County also plans to install LED lighting systems in some county facilities, replace all hot water heaters over five years old with more efficient units and increase insulation in the Judicial Center roof replacement project and Burnhaven Library remodeling project.

The projects are estimated to save the county about 4,000 million BTUs in energy consumed per year—enough electricity to power more than 100 homes for a year according to the Department of Energy—create or retain 32 jobs, and reduce green house gas emissions by more than 400 metric tons.

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Creative Commons-licensed image originally posted at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Lcarsdata

Creative Commons-licensed image originally posted at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Lcarsdata

Ramsey County has been awarded $813,900 under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.  Property Management and Public Health co-wrote the application and will work together to ensure the projects identified in the application are completed quickly. The projects will make environmentally sound changes without drawing resources from programs that are already serving people in these tight fiscal times.

  • Twelve buildings owned by Ramsey County will have lighting retrofits that will reduce carbon emissions (CO2) by 1,850,000 pounds and 1,100,000 kWh of energy upon completion.  Visitors to these buildings may not notice a change in the lighting, but will know the County is committed to energy efficiency.
  • The systems in nine additional buildings will be evaluated and modified to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
  • Twenty electric vehicle charging stations will be installed at five high-traffic and high-visibility locations throughout the County.  Electric vehicles are becoming more prevalent in the County and providing charging options for customers of County services is another way of providing high quality customer service.  This work will be performed by contractors hired by the County and is estimated to create or retain six jobs in private industry.
  • Other activities to be funded by the grant include drafting a comprehensive energy plan, procuring an alternative energy source as a backup energy supply for the County’s new disaster data recovery center, and installation of energy management software on computers.

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Ramsey County Seeing Green

compact-fluorescentRamsey County is committed to fiscal and environmental stewardship.  The Energy Conservation and Efficiency Block Grant will allow Ramsey County to quickly make some environmentally sound changes that will not draw resources from programs that are serving people in these tight fiscal times.

Twelve buildings owned by Ramsey County will have lighting retrofits which will reduce carbon emissions (CO2) by 1,850,000 pounds and 1,100,000 kWh of energy upon completion.  Visitors to these buildings may not notice a change in the lighting, but will know the County is committed to energy efficiency.  The systems in nine additional buildings will be evaluated and modified to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.  Twenty electric vehicle charging stations will be installed at five high-traffic and high-visibility locations throughout the County.  Electric vehicles are becoming more prevalent in the County and providing charging options for customers of County services is another way of providing high quality customer service.  This work will be performed by contractors hired by the County and is estimated to create or retain 6 jobs in private industry.

Other activities to be funded by the grant include drafting a comprehensive energy plan, procuring an alternative energy source as a backup energy supply for the County’s new disaster data recovery center, and installation of energy management software on computers.

Outcomes will include the development of a comprehensive energy plan, improved internal coordination of energy projects and policies, improved tracking of energy improvements, energy conservation,  cost savings, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

In order to manage the development of a comprehensive energy management plan and to manage the Recovery Act-funded energy projects, Ramsey County will hire a energy/sustainability coordinator and contract for specialized, technical consulting services. This will result in improved internal coordination of energy projects and policies and a better capacity for tracking energy improvements such as energy and cost savings and reductions in greenhouse emissions.

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