ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Energy efficiency is being studied at several of Allentown’s biggest buildings, as officials look to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and address the effects of climate change.
The Allentown Environmental Advisory Council is auditing energy efficiency at City Hall, the police station and the city’s recycling center on 10th Street, according to Jon Zeller, who works for Siemens, an energy services company.
- A panel is examining energy efficiency at three of Allentown's largest buildings
- The preliminary audit will help identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency in city-owned buildings
- The audit could take several more months
Zeller is working with resident Kyle Ropski to conduct the audit.
Ropski said the examination is “very preliminary” and is “step one” for identifying where energy-efficiency improvements can be made with city-owned assets.
"You can’t set a goal if you don’t know what you’re at."Jon Zeller
The audit of the city’s largest buildings “will give a good understanding of what might be representative for the rest of the city,” Zeller said.
It will analyze 12-24 months’ worth of bills “for each account for each utility” to “establish a baseline” for what the city is spending, he said.
The Allentown Environmental Advisory Council will use that baseline to calculate potential savings and set goals to boost energy efficiency and reduce emissions, Zeller said.
“You can’t set a goal if you don’t know what you’re at,” he said.
Zeller’s hopeful the preliminary audit would be complete by July, but he said “there's just a lot of outstanding information” to still collect.
Zeller said he and Ropski have been working for several months “just trying to figure out where data is available and how we could collect it.”
The city is decentralized and has "distributed operations,” with many departments paying their own bills, which caused the preliminary audit to take longer than hoped, Zeller said.
Ropski said he hopes to finish the audit and see the city make energy-efficiency improvements “as fast as possible.”
“The world’s on fire,” he said.
'Fair and equitable transition' to clean energy
Allentown City Council is considering a resolution recently recommended by the environmental advisory council.
The resolution, introduced in a city council committee meeting Monday, urges officials to "commit to a ‘fair and equitable’ transition to 100% clean, renewable energy for municipal operations” by 2030."
The city should fund solar energy projects, such as adding panels to municipal buildings, to reduce its greenhouse emissions and save on energy costs, the resolution says.
It also calls for Allentown to get 100% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035 and for all energy — including heat and transportation — to be renewable by 2050.
City council also should consider investing in solar energy to show its feasibility and officials’ “commitment to using local resources,” the resolution says.
The recommended resolution will be discussed by an Allentown City Council committee and could be up for a vote at the council's next meeting on April 19.
