The “city shops” facility won’t be glamorous, but if officials in Golden have their way, it will feature cutting-edge renewable energy technologies, and will be located in a business park filled with high-tech, energy-efficiency companies.
Last year, the city of Golden purchased a 29-acre site of land that was home to the former manager of the Golden Pressed and Fire Brick Company. The city needs 10 of those acres to build new “shops” – a facility where police cars, fire trucks, street sweepers, mowers, snowplows and other municipal vehicles are serviced and repaired. The city hopes to sell off the rest of the acreage as a light-industrial site with “flex” space where small, start-up innovators can develop alternative energy businesses.
It’s a logical site for such a business-development center, according to Golden Councilman Jacob Smith, because the School of Mines is located in Golden and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is just next door.
Meanwhile, the city is moving forward with plans to make the city shops as “green” as possible. Dan Hartman, Golden’s director of Public Works, says the city hopes to put 50,000 square feet of solar-electric cells on the roof to generate electricity. “We’re trying to incorporate as much solar power and energy efficiency as we can,” Hartman says. But there’s a catch. “Green” improvements have to be within the facility’s construction budget, which is $13 million. The solar arrays alone would cost $6.5 million, so Golden is looking at other sources of funding for the solar power.
Solar tax credits of up to 30 percent are available to businesses and private citizens who install PV arrays, Smith points out. The city is tax-exempt, so it can’t take advantage of those tax credits. But Golden knows that others can, and it is seeking third-party investors who would be willing to purchase the PV arrays. Smith says a “burgeoning industry” of such investors is emerging nationally.
Those who invest in Golden’s shops facility would sell electricity generated by the solar arrays to the city at a negotiated rate. In addition, the investors would generate a profit by selling any excess electricity to the power company, and would also take advantage of the tax credits.
Like the private investors, Golden would expect to benefit from such a public-private partnership. Not only would the city get solar energy without capital outlay, Smith explains, but the negotiated cost of the solar-generated electricity would be lower than market rates, especially as energy prices rise over time.
While plans for incorporating photovoltaic solar power are still up in the air, other plans for an environmentally friendly facility are moving forward. Electric lights will be energy-efficient, and some will have motion detectors to turn lights on only when the room is in use.
A porous asphalt pavement, which will cover two of the facility’s 10 acres, will filter water used to wash vehicles. After it is filtered through the pavement, the wash water will go to a detention area, where it can be reused to wash additional vehicles. According to Hartman, a porous concrete pavement will similarly filter water in the area where salt and sand are mixed before being spread on icy roads.
Golden is also trying to anticipate the technologies that will emerge within the next 10 years. For example, Smith says, it is “reasonable to guess” that some of Golden’s fleet will run on electricity in the future, so the plan is to install conduits for plug-in stations. In addition, the facility’s fueling station is being prepared for biodiesel pumps.
Construction on the site began the last week in April. As Smith observes, “City shops are not glamorous, so it’s exciting to see how cutting-edge technology can be applied to even a mundane facility.”
It’s also exciting to see how one city, concerned about energy costs, air quality and global warming, is “walking its talk” and building a facility that is good for the environment as well as for the taxpayers.
