PORT ANGELES — Five public entities in Clallam County have teamed up to curb their energy consumption.
A federal grant through the state Department of Commerce will help pay for a soon-to-be-hired shared resource conservation manager.
He or she will be responsible for improving energy efficiency at Clallam County, Olympic Medical Center, the city and Port of Port Angeles and Clallam Transit.
Jim Jones, Clallam County administrator, said the technically trained employee probably will start work in early June.
The idea behind the Energy Efficiency and Conservation block grant is to save money in the long run by cutting the consumption of electricity, water, natural gas, fuel oil, solid waste disposal and other utilities.
The federal grant from the 2009 stimulus package will put $75,000 into the program for the next two years. The consortium will cover the 50 percent match.
Grant administrator
Clallam County will administer the grant and pitch in $19,530 over the next two years.
Costs are prorated, based on the amount of energy that each agency used over the last three years.
Olympic Medical Center uses the most energy of the partners, followed by the city of Port Angeles and Clallam County.
The three Clallam County commissioners will consider approving the two-year agreement today.
If it conservation manager works out, the public entities may decide to self-fund the position two years from now. They could also add new partners.
“The theory is, soon all the public entities in the nation will be doing this same kind of thing,” Jones said.
The shared resource conservation manager will make the consortium eligible for more grants down the road, Jones added.
The Clallam County consortium is one of 10 in the state that received the grant.
The conservation manager will assess energy used throughout the partnership and introduce such new practices as attention to equipment installation.
Much of the work will focus on changing human behavior when it comes to energy use.
The conservation manager will be a county employee.
Washington State University Extension helps facilitate the block grants with the state Department of Commerce.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
