Sustainable Jersey – Blair Diehl – 2020
Goals
Sustainable Jersey is a leading non-profit organization in sustainability certifications for over 450 municipalities and over 950 schools in New Jersey. Blair Diehl was hired by Sustainable Jersey to help the City of Orange Township assess the energy costs and usage of the city’s water treatment system and streetlights, identifying incentive programs that best fit their energy efficiency goals.
Solutions
Diehl implemented the following approach to assist the City of Orange Township:
- analyzed the city’s utility usage and cost spanning across 8 municipal buildings, water system and street lights
- established an energy baseline and developed a management and tracking process to help the city continually monitor performance
- applied to NJ Clean Energy Program’s Local Government Energy Audit (LGEA) to receive free on-site audits of municipal facilities
- coordinated an energy efficiency outreach campaign for the city’s local businesses
Diehl then outlined next steps and recommended a financing opportunity that would allow the city to implement the proposed energy conservation measures from the LGEA and upgrade their streetlights at no cost to the taxpayer.
Impact
At the end of her fellowship, Diehl presented her findings to the city’s business administrator, New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities staff, and the Sustainable Jersey team. Her work provided a clear path for the City of Orange to track and reduce their energy usage and costs. If recommended projects from the LGEA are implemented, they could help save the city an estimated $133,000 annually and reduce carbon emissions by 392 metric tons per year. The actions could also earn the city up to 90 points with Sustainable Jersey’s certification program.
