Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy for the City of Jacksonville
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Jacksonville, Florida Client: City of Jacksonville RS&H Role/Responsibility: Planner, Architect, and Engineer |
 Project Description: As Program Manager for the City of Jacksonville’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, RS&H developed an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy for the City. To develop the strategy, RS&H inventoried the City’s existing sustainability efforts, engaged in extensive stakeholder outreach, analyzed the costs and benefits of hundreds of potential projects, and finally recommended 19 optimal activities bundled into a portfolio of eight programs. These programs address building energy audits and retrofits, effective waste management, low emission vehicles, residential energy efficiency rebates, renewable energy demonstration projects, clean technology job training, and community sustainability awareness. The strategy establishes a portfolio of activities that should save over 40 million kilowatt hours of energy and avoid 37 thousand metric tons of greenhouse gasses per year, while creating 125 jobs. Including the costs of development and administration, the portfolio exhibits an estimated simple payback of 2.4 years and a return on investment of 56% over three years. In addition, the portfolio is estimated to leverage an additional $3.7 million in project funding from other community resources. |