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Pennsylvania-based McClure Company has substantially completed $3.95 million in Luzerne County government projects expected to save $5.32 million in electric, gas and other utility expenses over 20 years, according to its recent county council presentation.
The work included switching to more cost-efficient LED lighting, building sealing, mechanical system insulation, plumbing upgrades and boiler improvements.
Some of the projects highlighted by company representatives:
• Two new 2,170-pound boilers were set up in the courthouse subbasement to heat the building, ending reliance on steam delivered through an aging and deteriorating underground pipe linked to a boiler plant near the prison on Water Street.
• At the boiler plant, McClure removed two obsolete boilers that were in disrepair and installed a new one along with ancillary equipment to support it. A decade-old boiler also remains in use at the facility.
• With limited space in the Water Street prison, McClure built and transported a modular box outside the prison to house a new water heating system.
In addition to utility savings, the county will avoid $2.2 million in capital repairs and replacement costs over 20 years, bringing the total savings to $7.52 million, McClure representatives estimated.
The energy project is unusual because the county did not bid out the work. Instead, McClure’s completion of the work includes a financial guarantee the county will hit specified energy reduction targets, officials said. Such guaranteed energy savings agreements are authorized by state law.
A McClure representative has said the company must pay the difference or provide additional improvements at no cost to the county if it does not meet saving targets.
After finishing some punch-list items and final system testing in coming weeks, McClure will begin a one-year energy measurement and verification period. The county’s energy consumption will be compared to its average usage from 2014 through 2016, a company representative said.
McClure plans to present measurement results to the county in March 2020.
County Manager C. David Pedri told council he expects to incorporate energy savings in the 2020 budget.
The county borrowed $7.9 million to fund the project last year. The administration plans to bid out the remaining $4 million in work, which is primarily at the prison, expecting it will cost less, officials said.
County Operational Services Division Head Edmund O’Neill said the county has completed and saved approximately $130,000 on one of the projects it bid out — air conditioning replacement at the prison.
The county engineer’s office is working on another project to replace the electric switchgear at the courthouse, which McClure had described as obsolete with a maxed-out capacity.
County engineers also recently designed new LED lighting for 1960s ceiling fixtures in the courthouse’s five main courtrooms, which was not included in the McClure contract, O’Neill said. The office brought the project cost down to $9,100 by purchasing and modifying the 43 fixtures and relying on an outside contractor for installation work only.