Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy help “green” Hiawatha’s City Hall

City of Hiawatha to receive energy efficient incentive checks

The City of Hiawatha replaced its 58-year-old city hall with not only a newer, but a “greener” facility. The building went through an energy-efficient design process provided by the Commercial New Construction program offered through Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy Company. Representatives from both utilities will present rebate checks totaling $29,646 to city officials during a brief ceremony at the city hall on Wednesday, August 6 at 10:00 a.m.

“The City of Hiawatha has a responsibility to our residents and to our environment. With the construction of our new building, we were committed to making Hiawatha City Hall energy-efficient,” said Dave Van Dee, Hiawatha City Administrator. “During the design process, we met with Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy to learn more about making City Hall energy efficient and reducing our energy costs. The energy conservation strategies provide an annual energy cost savings that will be beneficial for years to come.”

Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy representatives helped to evaluate several energy efficient measures that the City of Hiawatha could install in the new building. When the city hall was being designed, a variety of energy conservation strategies were considered, including roof and wall insulation, daylighting, occupancy sensor controls, as well as highly efficient mechanical systems. These strategies were modeled prior to construction so that the City could see anticipated energy savings, incremental costs, and utility incentive amounts.

By partnering with local utility representations and evaluating the building’s energy efficiency potential before construction began, the City is expected to save more than $15,000 each year on its energy bills. These operational savings result from the City lowering its expected energy usage by an estimated 179,616 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 4,314 therms of natural gas each year. These savings earn the City a total incentive of $29,646, with Alliant Energy awarding a $25,146 energy-efficiency rebate for the electric savings, and MidAmerican Energy providing a $4,500 incentive for the gas savings.

“We evaluated several potential energy conservation strategies the City of Hiawatha could consider in building City Hall,” said Sam Page- Strategic Account Manager, Alliant Energy. “Hiawatha city officials were willing to commit to energy-efficiency on the front end allowing us to achieve much greater fiscal and environmental results.”

In addition to lowering its energy bill and receiving an extra cash incentive from the utilities, the City is also doing its part to reduce its environmental impact. By choosing to make the building more efficient than required by the State of Iowa building code, the city hall is avoiding more than 160 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. This is equal to removing about 30 passenger vehicles off of Iowa roads.

Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL), an Alliant Energy Company, and MidAmerican Energy offer Commercial New Construction Programs to assist owners and design teams in evaluating potential energy conservation strategies for new and renovated building projects. From the start of the conceptual design phase, the customer, project design team, and utility personnel work together using building performance simulation modeling to identify and implement cost-effective energy efficiency approaches that improve the overall energy efficiency of a building. A minimum energy savings of 5 percent greater than the State of Iowa building code is required.

The Commercial New Construction program can be utilized for new commercial buildings and building renovation projects. It is available to Alliant Energy and MidAmerican Energy retail electric and/or gas customers located in their respective Iowa service territories. For more information on Alliant Energy’s Commercial New Construction program, visit www.alliantenergy.com/newconstruction or call 1-866-ALLIANT (1-866-255-4268). For more information on MidAmerican Energy’s Commercial New Construction program, visit www.midamericanenergy.com/cnc or call 1-800-292-6448.