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CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH -- Today, the Honorable Mayor Kahlil Seren announced that the City of Cleveland Heights has signed a sweeping ‘energy savings performance’ contract with Leopardo Energy that will produce $8 million in savings for the city by renovating four city facilities and replacing the city’s streetlights with energy-efficient LED fixtures. At the heart of the $25 million contract, Cleveland Heights will create 300 union jobs to update the systems that power city buildings and repair structures that hundreds of city employees and residents visit daily.
“We are thrilled to take the first, significant step toward lowering the City’s carbon emissions and improving the environmental and safety conditions for hundreds of city employees,” the mayor said. “We are acting today for future generations by extending the life of our properties and committing Cleveland Heights to a path for energy savings and carbon reductions prioritized in our recently released Climate Action and Resilience Plan.”
As the City of Cleveland Heights eyes the finish line on its Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (or Climate Forward Plan) -- with a final draft available for a second round of public comments through Sunday, December 22 -- the city took its first step toward achieving the plan’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality in its operations by 2050 this week.
The Climate Forward Plan found that powering buildings is the city's single largest source of carbon emissions; pairing the need to repair aging city structures and replace many of their old, inefficient mechanical systems will simultaneously reduce the city's energy bill and carbon emissions.
“We are taking advantage of the commercial PACE loan structure that allows the city to use the projected savings to help finance the deal, which frees up significant city financial resources for use in other needed areas,” the mayor added.
At the center of the energy services contract is Leopardo’s guarantee that Cleveland Heights will claim a projected savings of $1.9 million per year for the next 20 years resulting from the overhaul of buildings and mechanical systems at four locations: City Hall, the city’s two fire stations, Cain Park and the service garage. They are buildings with a laundry list of deferred maintenance concerns, including aging A/C units, old lighting, and, in some cases, leaking roofs and windows. In addition, Leopardo is negotiating, as part of a total $25.5 million bid, a complete replacement of the city’s street lights with brighter and more energy-efficient LED fixtures.
Cleveland Heights and Leopardo set a goal to use 100% local labor for this project; a contract will be signed with local labor unions, creating 387 jobs and $902,420 in local and state taxes.
The project is expected to reduce the City’s carbon footprint by 4,228,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, an invisible gas fueling the climate crisis, equivalent to removing 427 cars from the road.
After debt from financing the contract is paid, Leopardo estimates the contracted work will save the City more than $8 million in energy and other areas of its operation.
Cleveland Heights can literally take these savings to the bank. Through state law, cities can account for energy and other savings when negotiating loan terms.
“[The Ohio Revised Code] allows cities to use savings to pay back funding on improvements,” said Leopardo Partnership Executive, Heather Garay. “The city is being fiscally responsible because this doesn’t take away from the city's tax money already in its budget. It can invest those dollars in the most economical and efficient way.”
For Cleveland Heights, Leopardo guarantees annual savings of $165,457 in utility bills generated from swapping out equipment such as giant heating and cooling units. The company found that 77% of the City’s mechanical systems are past their useful life. Also, Leopardo evaluated and will re-negotiate contracts for the city, such as fuel contracts for its vehicles and salt (brine) for its roads, guaranteeing $654,714 in annual savings. Replacing all of the City’s street lights with LEDs will generate an annual savings of $403,847, and, replacing exterior lighting and inefficient window A/C units at Cain Park with a centralized system will save the City $103,847 annually.
In addition to the energy savings, building repairs such as roof and window replacements, tuckpointing, and fixing leaks, such as in the massive skylight in the Atrium at City Hall, will increase the safety and longevity of city facilities. Leopardo estimates the City will save $597,506 in the first seven years of the contract by fixing structures and replacing equipment before it fails.
“We’ll be extending the life of these buildings,” Garay said, adding that conditions, particularly at the service center, will be significantly improved. “Workers fixing trucks won’t have to breathe exhaust fumes with the new HVAC system, which detects carbon monoxide levels. We’re also going to replace the roof and put the solar panels back on with an eye toward expanding solar to cover the whole roof.
“Part of the appeal is it refreshes [these spaces] all at once. It reinvigorates the look of the city and it has great savings payback.”
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