Published March 31 2014
The City of Bellevue and Bellevue College recently secured more than $1.2 million in grants from the state Department of Commerce to help make operations more energy efficient and lower costs.
City grants
- Local government energy efficiency award of $500,000 to: upgrade 4,242 street lights, owned by both the city and Puget Sound Energy, from high-pressure sodium bulbs to energy-efficient LED (light emitting diode) bulbs; replace old heating and cooling equipment at two fire stations; improve system operations at the Bellevue Aquatic Center; replace the hot water system at City Hall; and weatherize the Bellevue Service Center. The work is expected to save the city at least $189,000 in annual energy costs; and
- Solar award of $105,191 to: install a 20 kW solar photovoltaic array on the roof of the Bellevue Service Center. It's the first solar array on the roof of a city-owned building, and is expected to supply about 7 percent of the building's energy needs on sunny days.
The City Council will consider the projects and formal acceptance of the state grants at an upcoming meeting.
Along with the city grants, the Department of Commerce awarded Bellevue College a solar grant for $410,000 and a higher education energy efficiency grant of $195,000.
In total, the Commerce Department awarded more than $14 million in grants to 27 local governments, five colleges and four state agencies through a competitive process. They were selected from 61 grant applications. About $11 million will be invested in energy efficiency projects and $3 million in solar photovoltaic and solar thermal projects.
More information about Bellevue's environmental work, is available at Environmental Stewardship.