Charlie Montgomery took one look at the utility bill for the MTHD garage and thought “There has to be a way to get this bill lower.”

And with a little research, he found a solution. The Illinois Clean Energy Foundation offers grant dollars to non-profts, municipalities and local and state government agencies to improve energy efficiency, advance the development of renewable resources and protect natural areas.
Montgomery said Callie McFarland, Monticello’s Director of Community Development, told him writing a grant wasn’t difficult.

“So I figured if I could save on energy costs, it was worth it,” Montgomery said.

He got estimates for the work and requested $11,000 to replace the shop’s T-12 fluorescent lighting with T-8 lighting.

The foundation offered a grant of about $3,300 towards the work and during the last week of January, new lighting was installed at the MTHD.

The wattage difference to light the T12 lights, vs. the T8’s is more than 6,000, Montgomery said.

During the installation, it was discovered that the ballasts on many of the fixtures were getting so hot, they were leaving black marks on the ceiling, he said.

“That’s potentially a fire hazard, as well and a waste of energy,” Montgomery said.

Over the past couple of years Montgomery has been looking at other ways to save energy dollars at the MTHD. The garages have been switched from forced air heating to radiant heating and he’s already seeing savings on that.

“Every time we opened those big garage doors, all the heat just rushed out,” Montgomery said. That doesn’t happen with the radiant heat system, that warms not only the air, but the floors and equipment, so the heat is more likely to stay in the garage when the doors are open.

Montgomery said he’s continuing to explore ways his department can be more energy-efficient and save money for the taxpayers.

Monticello Township Highway Department isn’t the only government unit in the area looking for ways to be more energy efficient and save energy dollars.

The City of Monticello is also replacing the T12 fixtures throughout all the city buildings with T8s.
“The payback will only be a couple of years,” said City Superintendent Floyd Allsop. “Plus we’re noticing in the offices the lighting is more comfortable than the T12s.”

The drive systems for the pumps at the sewage treatment plant have been changed to “soft start” -- so the motors work up to speed, rather than a suddent on and off. That saves both energy and wear and tear on the motors, Allsop said.

“We’re looking for every opportunity we can to be more efficient,” he said.

The street lighting is also getting a closer look by city staff and eventually the city council. One of the lights outside the municipal building, which is a fixture like those used on all the light posts throughout downtown, is being  replaced -- the 100 watt bulb and base is being replaced with a 27 watt LED.
“We’ll see what the light is like compared to the other fixtures -- how well it lights, Allsop said. “The we need to run the figures to see what the savings would be cmpred to the cost to replace them around town.
Allsop said his office generates a report every month of all utility costs for the city that includes electric, natural gas, propane, telephones, cell phones, water and sewer bills.

“I can look year by year and see if anything is askew,” Allsop said. “By doing that, it helps to control costs of our utilities.”

He said that report has allowed him and the staff to pinpoint things they were having problems with.
For example, recently a cooling system at the wastewater treatment plant needed a repair and had used recycled water to cool the pump seal. The repair required a temporary set-up to use tap water instead.
"The monthly utility report quickly indicated a huge increase in the plant's city water bill," Allsop said. Knowing the increased cost, the city made the repair a high priority so that recycled water could used again.

The report is also used to decide whether or not some city buildings need to be heated in teh winter, why some cost more than others to maintain and if phone lines are necessary in some of the buildings.
“Even $10 a month, that’s $120 a year,” he said.

The city also is seeing significant savings by going with Integrys to purchase electric power. In 10 months, the city has seen a $27,281 in savings over the previous year, Allsop said.

“If we keep going with this, over a 10-year period, we can save a quarter of a million dollars,” Allsop said.
He and city staff will be spending time over the next year looking at alternative energy options for some of the city’s sites, such as the wastewater treatment plant, the water plant and the pool, he said.

“We not sure what might be a practical application to use,” he said. They’ll look at wind and solar power, and explore other renewable energy options and this is the very early stages of the  research, he said.