How federal clean energy dollars support first responders

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

Boosted by clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, a net-zero energy public safety center in McFarland, Wisconsin, benefits firefighters, police officers and the broader community.

As a firefighter and paramedic, Ginger Conroy knows a thing or two about conserving energy. 24-hour shifts – followed by 48 hours off – are the norm in her working life. Now she has a workplace that matches her energy level.

Her fire station is part of the brand new Public Safety Center in McFarland, a town of 9,400 residents about 10 miles from Wisconsin's capital, Madison. Completed in 2023, the net-zero building produces as much energy as it consumes – and looks good too. “I've never worked in a building that is so spacious, well-lit and modern,” says Conroy. “It's like living in a castle.”

The building is a far cry from the cavernous community center that once housed her Fire & Rescue team, with few windows in the work areas and minimal privacy in the living areas. Now they have moved together with the police into the new building, which has a state-of-the-art kitchen and plenty of natural light.

Even on this cloudy day, daylight streams through the floor-to-ceiling windows, creating comfortable work spaces that require less artificial light. “To me, this feels like a much more welcoming environment to work in than our old station,” said Chris Dennis, McFarland Fire and Rescue Chief.

Nowhere is this felt more than in the equipment room, a huge, warehouse-like space that houses fire trucks, ambulances and equipment, and where the Fire & Rescue team spends most of its time. With a larger space and larger windows in the new building, the abundance of natural light is a contrast to their previous quarters and something that could make a big difference to the mental health and wellbeing of those in the team.

Developing an energy efficient building powered by renewable energy sources

McFarland officials were in the early stages of designing the Public Safety Center building when they decided to make it as sustainable as possible to set a good example in achieving the goals set out in the village report. Climate action plan, such as reducing climate pollution from buildings. They hired an energy consultant to see if solar and geothermal energy could get the building to net zero.

While McFarland residents will have to wait until the end of 2024 to know if their new building is officially net zero (twelve months of utility data is needed to apply for certification), the impressive array of solar panels on the roof suggests this won't be a problem .

A network of pipes in the basement brings geothermal heat from the subsurface to energy-efficient heat pumps and underfloor heating, keeping the building comfortable even on cold winter days. In fact, the building runs on 200 amps, which is less electricity than what some large homes require, so even if the solar panels are covered in snow (which is common in cold climates), the building's holistic design keeps it as is that the energy demand of the building is low and can be compensated by on-site generation.

There are many more features that keep energy consumption low. Some are what you'd expect from an energy-efficient building: the lights all run on timers or sensors, and ceiling fans in the bays keep the heat circulating. But because this is a fire station, there are features intended to reduce energy consumption that most people might not think about: Instead of using an energy-intensive oven to dry fire hoses like other stations, McFarland uses a device that pulls up the hoses. good and air dried.

More benefits than just efficiency

In addition to the innovative building systems, the new center has also improved the health and safety of fire personnel. These systems include an interior exhaust fan that immediately kicks in to suck out cancer-causing exhaust fumes as soon as a fire truck is turned on.

But comfort is the real winner for employees across the board. On the police side of the building, more natural light has made a difference. In the old building, the administrative part had only one window: overlooking the corridor. Now large windows let in a lot of light. Also in the old team room “no natural light came in; it was completely illuminated by lights from the room,” said Police Chief Aaron Chapin. The new space features tall windows all around, allowing natural light to enter, reducing the need to turn on lights and saving energy costs. “It's really healthy for the officers to be able to have that when they're working on reports and things like that. There is a significant difference between this building and where we were before,” Chapin said. The officers even have lunch there together, which is good for team bonding; While they did not even have a full kitchen in the old building, they now have a fully electric kitchen with an induction hob.

There are also EV chargers in the police area, with sockets ready for additional chargers in the future, as well as wiring for chargers in the car park. In fact, the entire building was “built for future growth,” Chapin said, with empty rooms waiting for future staff. This ensures that the building can be used for a long time.

In addition, the building acts as an emergency operations center and provides an essential service to the community. Village officials are studying adding battery and microgrid components to the building to increase resiliency and operational capacity during emergencies. “One of the benefits we recognize about it being a public safety center is that if there is a power outage or if a natural disaster occurs, the building is more resilient and does not impact the people providing the services during that period. emergency,” said Andrew Bremer, Community and Economic Development Director for the Village of McFarland.

Tax benefits and lower energy bills provide major savings

The benefits of the building extend to financial benefits. While the initial cost of $22 million seems high, there are two reasons why this won't break the bank. The first is that the operating costs of an energy-efficient, net-zero building are significantly lower than those of a traditional building, meaning McFarland will save money on electricity bills every month. These savings are put into a general pot of funding that is used for employee wages and other services the village provides – and can serve as insulation against future cuts.

The second reason is that McFarland hopes to recoup about $1 million through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has made large amounts of federal funding available for clean energy projects. “It definitely provides the financial incentive to reduce the initial costs to get a project done,” Bremer says of the IRA.

McFarland mainly benefits from Direct Pay, also known as Elective Pay. This new benefit, powered by the IRA, allows tax-exempt entities such as local governments to use tax credits as cash refunds for eligible clean energy projects. McFarland expects to receive about 5 percent of their project costs from the IRS. Direct Pay has only been possible since the IRA was passed in August 2022, creating a huge opportunity for cities, counties, nonprofits and other tax-exempt entities to receive incentives for developing clean energy projects.

Helping others get there

Because it was already planning this project before the IRA was passed, McFarland will be one of the first municipalities to take advantage of IRA tax credits for a building already completed, paving the way for others to follow.

The Public Safety Center has already attracted interest from school districts and police departments looking to replicate McFarland's success. Even McFarland themselves are using this building as an example as they redesign their old municipal building into a net-zero community center – perhaps the strongest sign that this building is doing what it's supposed to do.

While the climate benefits of a carbon-neutral building are undeniable, that alone won't be enough for some to make the switch. But McFarland has shown that net zero brings many other benefits. “There's a stigma in fire departments when you go to zero that you're sacrificing comfort, but we've seen the opposite happen,” Dennis says.

There's a stigma in fire departments when you go to zero that you're sacrificing comfort, but we've seen the opposite happen.

A comfortable space in a resilient, high-performing building means staff can do a better job keeping the community safe. With “the ability to handle any emergency that arises,” as Conroy says, this building proves that net zero can benefit the entire community.

By means of Hannah Perkins, © 2024 KMI. Published with permission. Thanks to RMI.

Featured image REV