Physical work on Green Facilities kicks off today

Today marks the official kickoff of phase one of the county’s Green Facilities Project, part of a “larger effort by Tompkins County to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in more environmentally sustainable activities,” according to a recent press release. After many months of planning, those involved are excited to see physical work begin.

For a full breakdown of the project, read our initial coverage at tinyurl.com/ycglol6a. To summarize, the project includes many measures to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, with the first phase including “a geothermal installation at the Public Works facility bringing it to net-zero, … 100% LED lighting in all county buildings, electrifying the Mental Health building, and weatherization, water conservation and building controls optimization projects,” according to the release.

As mentioned in our most recent coverage of the project (tinyurl.com/2gma5bc2), the county has been diligently working with project partner Johnson Controls to get to the current stage of beginning physical work. County Chief Sustainability Officer Terry Carroll shared how it feels to finally hit this milestone.

“I started well over a year ago at this point, and it was probably just a month or two into it that I sat down for the first time with Johnson Controls and Arel [LeMaro] and started to learn about the Green Facilities Project,” Carroll said. “It’s been a long process to get to this point. And so, on the one hand, it’s really gratifying; it’s really rewarding to see the hard work of so many people finally coming to fruition. At the same time, this is phase one of three phases. And to me, the work’s not really done until we can kind of get through those three phases.”

Carroll and other county sources said that once phase one is complete, Tompkins County will be home to the only — or at least, one of the very few — net-zero public works facilities in the state. Carroll remarked on what that means for the county.

“To me, it’s about being a model,” he said. “It’s showing what’s possible. These are buildings that are particularly difficult to try and decarbonize and trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because you have giant garage bay doors. Oftentimes, these are older, inefficient buildings. For smaller municipalities, they can be an old barn. I’ve gone into a bunch of these across the Southern Tier in New York state, and these aren’t the cream of the crop when we think of our buildings.”

Johnson Controls’ Chris Fitzsimmons shared Carroll’s enthusiasm.

“It’s super exciting because we’re setting the standard along with a partner that wants to set the standard,” he said. “[It] is going to be to such a great facility for us to reference and maybe tour with other municipalities that might want to say, ‘Hey, what are they doing? How can we be a part of it? How can we also get to those goals?’ And that carbon reduction, that public health for upstate New York, that’s the biggest piece of it. So, that facility is going to be visited by me and a lot of people in the next couple of years.”

The kickoff is also celebrating the many positive effects the county has received thanks to its longstanding partnership with Johnson Controls — going on 18 years now. Fitzsimmons explained that Tompkins County first signed on Johnson Controls in 2006 “to do a performance contract, investigate all the facilities, see where we can save energy, reduce utility spend and update facilities.”

“That was a 15-year contract,” he said. “And when that was up and done, they said, ‘Hey, we want to continue and kind of reinvestigate and see what else we can do with a future focus on carbon reduction and sustainability.’ … [Tompkins County is] a great partner of ours and really setting the standard for initiatives, sustainability, carbon reductions, for upstate New York.”

Carroll seconded Fitzsimmons’ sentiment, saying while he hasn’t worked with Johnson Controls that entire 18 years, it’s been great to work with them for as long as he has.

“Since I’ve come on to the project, they’ve been very welcoming to my presence,” he said. “They’ve just been so welcoming and answering all my questions and addressing concerns that I might have had or altering the project. And I think they’ve really gotten on board with this idea of let’s place [reducing] greenhouse gas emissions as kind of the number-one motivator. And really, it’s been fantastic to see that. And my hope is that it kind of continues forward.”

While the project has experienced some challenges, including a significant price hike to its first phase, Carroll said that he expects phase one to proceed without much issue.

“The engineering has been done at this point,” he said. “So, at this point, really, it’s just a matter of working around schedules, figuring out, when can we get different crews in there, how can we make sure it’s the least disruptive experience to the employees that are working in these buildings and ensure that it’s a positive experience for everyone involved?”

Even so, Carroll and Johnson Controls are both keeping a watchful eye on the effects of rising costs across numerous industries. The costs involved with phase one have been locked in, but how costs will affect phases two and three remains to be seen. Carroll said rising energy costs are expected to affect the county over the next several months and even years, making the Green Facilities Project especially important.

“That’s something that is a concern, but I think at the same time, it makes kind of what we’re doing even more imperative,” he said. “The energy efficiency work that we’re going to do is going to save a lot of kilowatt hours and therms of natural gas. And so, … the hope is that we can get out in front of kind of those rising costs by reducing our own energy usage.”

Today, those involved are taking a moment to celebrate the project’s current progress, and tomorrow, the focus shifts back to what’s ahead, Carroll said.

“I don’t want to downplay it at all — this is really incredible what the county is committed to doing,” he said. “But there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done as well. And so, I want to celebrate what we’ve been able to accomplish. But we’re also looking forward, and we’re already talking with Johnson Controls about what does the next phase look like, and what are we targeting at that point?”

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to them at editorial@VizellaMedia.com.