Energy Management

Energy management is a very important part of Facilities Management's day-to-day responsibilities. Our Energy Management division monitors energy usage utilizing state-of-the-art energy monitoring programs to assess equipment malfunctions and identify potential energy conservation measures. We are responsible for procuring and providing utilities such as natural gas, electricity, water and sewage to County buildings. Part of this includes identifying and implementing energy conservation projects.

• Utility Procurement, Production, Billing and Management
  We are currently participating in the County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAO) natural gas program.
  
  
• Energy and Water Conservation
  This is accomplished by monitoring energy and water consumption and costs, and promoting energy and water conservation through various programs and projects.
  
  
• If it is necessary to schedule a utility outage, the Building Manager of that building will provide the tenants with sufficient notice.

We evaluate and implement improvements to provide more cost-effective and energy-efficient building systems. In addition, we use innovation and technology to provide reliable and cost-effective electricity, chilled water, steam, water, compressed air, emergency power and elevators.

As you can see, HCFD is dedicated to conserving energy and providing more efficient building systems. But we cannot do it alone. Individual awareness and action go a long way toward reducing energy cost in County buildings. For example, you can winterize the doors and windows in your home, but if your teenager forgets to close the door behind him, your efforts to defray heating costs will be defeated.

Natural Gas

The County Commissioners Association of Ohio (CCAOSC) Natural Gas Program was established in October, 2000 as a vehicle to help counties lower costs and to provide for a long-term supply of natural gas for county facilities. Hamilton County was a original member of this group. There are 30 counties that are program members that take advantage of cost savings derived form two sources: aggregation of purchases and pre-payment for a 10-year supply of natural gas. CCAO negotiated and entered into a natural gas purchase and sale agreement with CMS Marketing Services and Trading Company of Dearborn, Michigan. This agreement provides for the purchase of daily volumes of natural gas over a ten-year period commencing October 1, 2000 and ending September 20, 2010. All county-owned or leased buildings, including choice and non-choice accounts were eligible for the program. The amount of gas purchased by the program was based on consumption over the past year and forecasted consumption for the any newly-built, expanded or acquired facilities. Hamilton County served as the conduit for the purchase of $29,890,000 in taxable special revenue bonds for one billion cubic feet of gas. Principal and interest bond payments will be made by CCAOSC. Over the past four years, the program has saved the CCAOSC member counties $2.9 million in commodity costs.CCAOSC Natural Gas Program member counties enrolled in the program include: Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Carroll, Champaign, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Erie, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Huron, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Lorain, Lucas, Marion, Medina, Montgomery, Morrow, Portage, Putnam, Ross, Sandusky, Seneca, Union, Van Wert, and Wyandot.