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Energy bills soar in green library

Council defeats motion for closer look at green building initiatives
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The energy bills in Whistler's state of the art, showcase "green" library are coming in more than four times higher than estimated.

The soaring hydro bills, originally estimated by architects to be $7,000 per year, are closer to $30,000, which suggests the building is producing far more greenhouse gases than anticipated.

There could be a variety of factors at play, some of which may be rectified, and library director Lauren Stara urged people not to write-off the award-winning facility, which opened in early 2008, just yet.

"It's too early in the life of the building to condemn the estimates for being completely wrong," she said, adding that the library team is very proud to be a part of the municipality's biggest and boldest symbol for green building.

"We want to live up to that," said Stara.

The anomaly between the energy estimates and the true performance of the building however, prompted Councillor Ralph Forsyth, who is the council representative on the library board, to urge council for a report on the green building performances of other municipal buildings.

That motion was defeated at Tuesday's meeting, a move that shocked the councillor.

"Don't you want to know if the money you're spending is working or not?" asked a frustrated Forsyth in an interview following Tuesday's council meeting.

"We're afraid to ask that question."

Forsyth wanted that question answered in a report - which would examine the municipality's green buildings, such as the $11 million library, the Spring Creek fire hall and the Beaver Flats employee housing complex - to see if they are actually saving the money they were touted to save when first approved.

"Is it that we're being sold a bunch of balderdash when these (staff) reports come forward saying how much we're going to save?" asked Forsyth. "Or does the technology actually not really work. Or the technology works, it's just not as effective as we thought. It's one of those three. It can't be anything else."

His request for an analysis on the issue, however, was defeated in a four to three vote. Forsyth said he felt like a heretic afterwards for daring to question Whistler's green building initiatives.

"I'll spend the money to do the right thing for the environment," he said. "We all want the same thing... but I'm tired of being sold things that are supposed to save me money when they don't. Just tell me the truth."

On the other side of the debate, Mayor Ken Melamed questioned spending the time and money on such a report when building to green standards is simply the right direction.

If we don't reduce emissions, he said, we're heading for economic destitution.

"We're going to invest in this for all the right reasons," he said.

"Are all the investments 100 per cent there? Maybe not."

He suggested Whistler was still in the research and development phase.

"I don't need the report," he added.

Councillor Eckhard Zeidler also questioned spending the money and time and cautioned against a quick report that could over-simplify these very complex analyses.

"I hear where you're going," he said to Forsyth. "It sounds like a lot of work."

Zeidler tried to come up with a compromise, investigating the green outcomes of one municipal building.

Forsyth pushed to have a look at three but he only found support from Councillors Ted Milner and Tom Thomson.

"The general attitude of the mayor and staff is that we've got to keep spending money on green stuff because it's so great and it makes us feel so good and we just don't have the time or money to see if what we spent the money on worked out. And that's what I think is outrageous," said Milner in a later interview.

He specifically pointed to the planned million dollar energy renovations at the Meadow Park Sports Centre on the books this year.

"Maybe it'll work or maybe it won't but nobody will ever know," added Milner. "That's what I'm unhappy about.

"It's crazy to spend all this dough and not see if it was worth it."

He also questioned how the municipality could ask private developers to meet higher green standards if it can't demonstrate success in those areas itself.

Though council defeated the motion for a report looking at the green building performances, it passed a motion put forward by Councillor Zeidler for a report on the potential time and cost of such an analysis of green building.

Meanwhile, the library is now paying $3,600 a year in a maintenance contract with a consultant who is an expert in geothermal heating and cooling systems. He will do a thorough analysis of the facility.

The municipality's general manager of community life, Bob MacPherson, said some changes in the library design were made along the way which could also account for why the estimates are so far off the actual bills.

For example, heat tracing was added outside, something that was not anticipated in the modeling. Tracing is still cheaper, said MacPherson, than shoveling snow.

Likewise, auto dimmer lights, which were set to dim when the sun came up, were cut from the budget as a cost saving measure.

MacPherson said the success of the building also may not have been factored in to those energy estimates. That success means more Internet usage, the doors open and closing more often, all of which may play a factor in the energy bills spiking.