Douglas County, KS: Sustainability & Energy-Savings Reinvestment Fund

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

The Douglas County Sustainability and Energy Savings Reinvestment Fund (henceforth SESRF) was created in November of 2011 with the goal of supporting and empowering departments to design and implement projects that enhance sustainability. The SESRF acts as an equipment reserve fund, replenished each year with the cost savings from energy efficient sustainable projects. The fund was initially seeded with $300,000. County departments can apply for a portion of this money to fund either the full cost of a project (i.e. new solar panels) or incremental costs for sustainability projects (i.e. money to upgrade from a traditional passenger vehicle to a hybrid vehicle). After submittal, applications are reviewed by the County Administrator and the Sustainability Coordinator in order to determine which projects receive funding. At the end of each year, annual reports on the program are submitted to the County Commission along with recommendations for re-funding the program (based upon the completed year’s savings). To date, the program has provided approximately $135,000 to 11 County energy efficiency projects. The amount recommended for fund reseeding was approximately (which is equivalent to the annual energy cost savings of all funded projects) was $23,340 in 2012 and $32,650 in 2013. The SESRF program is expected to provide a predictable, ongoing source of funds enabling County departments to continue to pursue energy efficiency in projects. The program has also engaged department staff to purchase energy efficient equipment, as their budgets are not penalized by having to cover the upfront costs of such sustainability retrofits.