Bruce County Council is considering if it should go ahead with the next step in an energy audit.
It would measure how efficient the county’s buildings are and determine what improvements should be made.
The price tag is 1.3 million dollars.
Municipal Account Manager for Ainsworth Energy Conservation Services, Amanda Kusick, says the County could save over 140 thousand dollars on an annual basis.
She notes new equipment will be installed in facilities, and greenhouse gas emissions will be significantly reduced.
The project would be paid for initially by Ainsworth and its third-party financing partner.
As savings are realized once upgrades have been made, the county would pay 140 thousand dollars to the partner.
Kusick says Ainsworth will “build measures” of what needs to be done for upgrades.
She says that once those measures are built, a guarantee period starts when Ainsworth would monitor the savings on the county’s utility bills, and then a report will be submitted outlining those savings.
Ainsworth will apply for two energy efficiency grants on behalf of the county as well.
One is the 50 thousand dollar EcoEnergy Retrofit through Natural Resources Canada, and the other is a 16 thousand dollar grant from Hydro One.
County Clerk-Treasurer Bettyanne Cobean says it may seem unusual that her department is spearheading the project, but the county does not have a project manager to oversee these kinds of things.
Cobean says from her perspective, the intent is to find savings.
She adds while some of the things that will have to be done seem simple, the process still takes time.