Costa Mesa partners up for energetic savings

The city of Costa Mesa is working with three neighboring cities and Southern California Edison to reach out to the public with an educational program about saving and consuming energy efficiently.

Costa Mesa, Westminster, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley have formed the Orange County Energy Leadership Partnership and entered into an agreement with Edison. It’s a collective attempt to launch combined energy-saving programs that could benefit the community at large.

Through the partnership, the four cities will receive about $4 million in grants over the next three years from the California Public Utilities Commission. Costa Mesa stands to get hundreds of thousands in grant dollars during that period, said Tom Hatch, Costa Mesa’s assistant city manager.

But it all depends on energy-saving projects launched by the city and the level of outreach to its residents and business community, he said.

“This funding is an encouragement, and it allows us to enhance our ability to provide financial components to do even more energy-efficiency programs,” he said.

The city also got separate funds from the federal government that it will use toward replacing five chillers at City Hall, including one in the Police Department. The $1.2 million from the federal stimulus package will also go toward replacing the roofs of the City Hall building and the city’s yards facility on Placentia Avenue. The new roofs are designed to save energy, Hatch said.

The city’s chillers, which help cool and heat the air in the building, are decades old, Hatch said.

Replacing them is estimated to save the city between $40,000 and $50,000 a year.

People might not understand how much an old chiller at their home or business is costing them, Hatch said.

“This will be an enhanced level of outreach to the community,” he said.

The city will provide its residents with information on how to save energy by inviting Edison to hold events in the community, among other ways to engage the public and help them become and stay green.