Dane County gets $2.2 million for "Green Energy Dane Plan"

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

From a news release issued by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk:

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved over $2.2 million in economic stimulus funds for county energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that will save taxpayer dollars, create green jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The county submitted its "Green Energy Dane Plan" to DOE last fall and just received notification the plan has been approved.

"Dane County has been a leader in implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy and green government programs," said County Executive Falk. "These economic recovery funds allows us to go a step further and make a major investment in energy solutions that will strengthen our economy by saving taxpayer dollars, creating local jobs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

The federal dollars will fund a number of projects to make more than 50-year old county buildings much more energy efficient and less costly to operate. That includes installing solar panels on the roof of the City-County building to help provide hot water. Energy-saving lighting and modern heating and cooling systems will also be purchased and the building’s vintage 1956 hot water system will be replaced with energy-efficient tanks. Solar panels will also be installed at various county facilities and Dane County will sell that solar-generated electricity back to local utilities. . . .

Included in the "Green Energy Dane Plan" is nearly $350,000 to conduct a feasibility study to explore the economic, job creation, and renewable energy potential of building a food waste digester plant. Waste food that now goes into the garbage or down kitchen disposals could one day generate up to $4-million in locally-produced green energy. Dane County is reviewing proposals from firms interested in doing the feasibility study and developing an initial site design. A company will be selected later this spring to perform the study.

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