KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Although the size of the new Kaukauna city hall is nearly double the former building, Mayor Tony Penterman tells FOX 11 it uses less energy.
“I think it’s very important that we build an energy efficient building like this. I believe it’s the only municipal building in the state of Wisconsin that has geothermal heating and cooling.”
Geothermal is a process of installing pumps into the ground, in which it uses the Earths energy for cooling and heating.
“There are a series of heat pumps throughout the building and it will either take energy from that fluid or give energy back to dissipate into the Earth,” explained John Sundelius, Kaukauna public works director.
The building also uses sensors near windows, this means if there’s more sunlight in the room, the lights become dimmer. LED lights are also installed in the rooms.
But to keep those lights on and the geothermal pumps running, the city uses solar panels for electricity.
“If it’s a sunny day like today, the solar panel will produce more than the building uses and then basically they’ll get credited on their account,” said Kaukauna utility systems engineer, David Pahl.
Pahl says the building produces 100,000 kWh of electricity every year, but it only uses about a third of that.
Sundelius told FOX 11, the extra energy generated will offset the nearly half million dollars used to install the renewable energy systems.
“The systems that we did put in, the estimated payback is that it’s going to be 12 years.”
Paul says it’s important to keep green, not only for the cost but also to sustain the Earth.
“Our reliance on coal and nuclear is diminishing, basically every year a little bit, so utilizing renewable energy is very important to us.”
Kaukauna Utilities and WPPI Energy also provided a grant of $100,000 through the Renewable Energy for Non-Profits program to help with the costs.
