FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 19, 2012) – The Kentucky Department of Parks has entered into an agreement to launch a long-term energy savings project at nine of its resort parks, the Department of Parks announced.
Under the agreement, energy efficient lighting, water systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and other conservation measures will be installed at these parks. The contract for this work was awarded to Ameresco, based in Framingham, Mass. The utility and operational savings will pay for the energy upgrades.“This is an important step by our Kentucky State Parks to become more energy efficient to reduce energy use and to save taxpayer money,” said Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Marcheta Sparrow. “Like other state agencies, our parks need to work to become more energy efficient so we can preserve and protect our forests and waters for future generations.”This project is an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC), part of Gov. Steve Beshear’s Smart Government Initiative (SGI) announced in 2010 that included efforts to improve state government efficiency. Since the beginning of SGI, the Finance and Administration Cabinet’s Office of Procurement Services estimates a savings of $7.2 million through contract renegotiations and rebidding. In total, General Fund contract spending has decreased by $75 million since FY 09.“The important point about this program is that it is revenue neutral for the state park system while making them more energy efficient,” Parks Commissioner Elaine Walker said. “This program will pay for itself and the guaranteed savings will continue benefiting parks for years to come.”The nine state resort parks involved in this project are: Barren River Lake, Dale Hollow, General Butler, Kenlake, Kentucky Dam Village, Lake Barkley, Lake Cumberland, Pennyrile Forest, and Rough River Dam. The project covers approximately 470 buildings at these parks.Work on the upgrades begins this month (March) and will continue over the next 17 months.Some examples of the upgrades include:– Retrofitting over 25,000 inefficient lamps with new high efficiency lamps;
– Installing over 1,400 low flow faucet and sprayer controls;
– Replacing 105 packaged terminal air conditioners with new energy efficient packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHP);
According to Ameresco, the projected energy savings at all nine parks will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 7,700 metric tons a year. This is the equivalent of removing approximately 1,400 typical passenger cars from the road each year and reducing consumption of the equivalent of 16,450 barrels of oil.
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