Sustainability

Skagit County is taking a multi-pronged approach to improving energy efficiency in county office buildings and other county-owned facilities.

Energy Saving Performance Contracting is a cost-effective process for completing building energy upgrades that uses long-term utility savings to create net-zero projects. The Washington State Department of Enterprise Services (formerly General Administration) has created an Energy Savings Performance Contracting program that partners with ESPC companies to provide quality assurance, project management, and monitoring and verification. Skagit County currently is working with DES on two projects.

o Phase I: Skagit County partnered with DES and McKinstry in 2009. McKinstry and its subcontractors completed significant weatherization and upgrades to HVAC, lighting, and control systems at a net-zero cost to the County. After completion, the County enters into a monitoring and verification period to track building performance and energy savings.

o Phase II: In 2013, Skagit County was awarded $103,419 from The Department of Commerce's Energy Efficiency Grants for Higher Education and Local Governments This will provide 3:1 match funds to upgrade the boilers in the Administration Building to a system that is more efficient and cost effective for the County. The project is expected to be completed by Fall 2013.

Resource Conservation Manager Program

The Resource Conservation Manager Program works to save money on utility usage by reducing energy consumption for internal operations. This includes conservation policies and procedures for the use of electricity, natural gas/propane, water/sewer, solid waste, and recycling services at work.

Daily Operations Policies

Skagit County has developed Resource Conservation Policies for Daily Operations as part of the 2010 Climate Action Plan. These policies were developed and are refined on an ongoing basis by our internal Sustainability Committee.

Facility Action Plans

The SCOG RCM is developing plans individualized to each county facility. The following plans have been completed:

• Facility Action Plan for Public Defender Building (October 2010)
• Facility Action Plan for Concrete Senior Center (October 2010)
• Facility Action Plan for Burlington Road Shop Admin Building (July 2010)
• Facility Action Plan for Mount Vernon Family Resource Center (January 2010)
• Facility Action Plan for Skagit County Transfer Station (January 2010)
• Facility Action Plan for Skagit County Data Center (August 2009)
• Facility Action Plan for Skagit County Search and Rescue Building (August 2009)

• Integrated Pest Management Plan (pdf)
• Facility Management Plan for Pollution Reduction (pdf)