The Facilities Energy Management Project Committee signed a contract last week with NORESCO, an energy services company. The contract authorizes NORESCO to install conservation equipment ranging from plumbing and lighting fixtures, to pool covers and vending machine controllers.

The $1.69 million contract will implement energy-saving measures at all six public schools, the White Field House, Skip Viglorolo ice skating rink, Police Department headquarters, Belmont Public Library, Water Department, and the Highway Division garage.

Half of the cost will pay for lighting improvements, and six rooftop HVAC units will be installed at the high school, according to committee Chairman Jennifer Fallon.

Projected annual savings from the conservation measures are expected to be $200,000 and the project will pay for itself in the next 10 years. Savings will accrue after the equipment is in use.

Loan payments will start next July, Fallon added.

John Kauppinen, a NORESCO representative, called the contract "a guaranteed energy savings project."

The town will also experience a host of side benefits such as better lighting and comfort, Kauppinen said.

"Equipment in danger of failing is being replaced now instead of doing it on an emergency basis," he said.

The rooftop HVAC units at the high school serve rooms that lack windows such as offices and the library. Current equipment is 35 years old and its replacement has been on the capital budget list for 10 years, Fallon said.

"It's always been something that nobody felt the town could fund very easily, and this really allows us to do something we otherwise wouldn't be able to do," said committee member Diane Stafford, who is also a member of the School Committee.

The project committee will meet with NORESCO for a preconstruction meeting sometime this month. Construction is expected to begin by the end of this month and to be completed next spring. The timeline will be determined during the preconstruction meeting.

In January 2001, Selectman Paul Solomon, along with several department heads and residents, met informally to discuss the possibility of energy conservation renovations in town buildings that would pay for itself over time.

The ad hoc committee sent a Request for Proposals and NORESCO was one of two firms that replied.

During the Annual Town Meeting last year, Solomon made a presentation that led to the creation of the Facilities Energy Management Project Committee.

"It's a win-win for the town," Solomon said in an interview last month.

Fallon said he joined the committee because she was chairman of the Superintendent's Advisory Committee on the Future Needs of Belmont High School.

"The high school is the biggest building, the biggest interaction with the project," she said.

NORESCO was selected last September, and in February the energy company undertook an audit of 12 municipal buildings as well as the Light Department Building and Town Hall. The latter two buildings were nixed because the firm could not identify any cost-savings measures.

The committee and NORESCO finally agreed on a pricing structure during a meeting last month.

"I'm very delighted that after all this time, we will in fact ... be moving with construction this summer," Fallon said.

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