Town of Amherst Green Showcase Projects

Northtown Center at Amherst Lighting Upgrade

The Town of Amherst is in process of securing $179,960 in grant funds from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to upgrade the lighting equipment at the Northtown Center at Amherst and at the North Amherst Recreation Center

The Northtown Center at Amherst is an 185,000 multi-use sport facility constructed in 1997, featuring four ice rinks for figure skating, hockey and other on-ice events. The facility also houses a sports training and fitness center, equipment and sports apparel sales and service, restaurant and conference spaces. The facility operates 22 hours per day, 365 days per year, employs approximately 40 full-time employees, and host nearly 2 million public visitors.

Lighting fixture candidates identified for upgrade at the Northtown Center at Amherst are 1,246 T12 fluorescent fixtures, 28 metal halide fixtures and 205 incandescent fixtures.

The lighting upgrade is expected to lower the annual electricity consumption at the Northtown Center at Amherst by 421,463 kilowatt-hours (KWH), which is equivalent to over 350,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide green house gas avoided each year. When completed the new lights should save the Town over $46,000 in electricity cost.

North Amherst Recreation Center Lighting Upgrade

The Town of Amherst is in process of securing $179,960 in grant funds from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to upgrade the lighting equipment at the Northtown Center and at the North Amherst Recreation Center

The North Amherst Recreation Center is a 35,500 SF athletic facility constructed in 1988. The facility houses a sports arena for indoor soccer, youth baseball, softball, and other sports training. The facility operates 12 hours per day 360 days per year, employs 2 full-time employees, and is visited by several hundred athletes daily.

Lighting fixture candidates identified for upgrade at the Center are 55 2x4 T12 fluorescent fixtures, 40 Highbay metal halide fixtures, 6 Lowbay metal halide fixtures and 30 incandescent fixtures.

The lighting upgrade is expected to lower the annual electricity consumption at the Recreation Center by 38,189 kilowatt-hours (KWH), which is equivalent to over 31,000 pounds of Carbon Dioxide green house gas avoided each year. When completed the new lights should save the Town over $4,201 in electricity cost.

Sewer Lines Lift Stations Pumps Motors Replacement

The Town of Amherst has secured Federal funding to replace the old inefficient pump motors in its 44 Sanitary Lift Stations (Lift Stations) with high efficiency motors.

The primary function of the Lift Stations is to lift sewage a certain vertical distance and then discharge into a pipe at a level for gravity to transport the sewage. Each Lift Station has at least two pumps that cycles based on a level control in the wet well of the Lift Station. One of the pumps serves as a backup.

The existing pump motors are standard efficient rated motors, been in service on average for over 15 years, and are specified to operate at 83% to 85% efficiency with sizes ranging from 5 HP to 25 HP. Significant energy savings is possible by replacing the motors with high efficiency motors with energy efficiency rating from 91% to 93% efficiency.

A 2001 engineering study commissioned by the town estimated the annual savings of high efficiency motor replacements at 4 representative Lift Stations range from 863 kWh to 1,901 kWh, with an average annual saving of 1,326 kWh per Lift Station. Extrapolating the average saving to 44 Lift Stations yields potential total annual savings of 58,344 kWh or equivalent to 31,758 kg of CO2 emissions reduced.

Main Sewage Pump Motor Replacement

The Town of Amherst has secured Federal funding to replace three existing 25 years old electric motors and motor drives at the town's Main Influent Sewage Pumping Station located at 455 Tonawanda Creek.

The town has secured funding under the Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) to pay for the motor replacement.

In the existing Influent pump station, waste water is pumped via four (4) 50 million gallons per day (50 MGD) pumps. Three of the pumps are driven by 600 HP electric motors with eddy current drives. The fourth pump is driven by a natural gas engine. The existing drives, motors and associated 4,160V switch gear/control are over 25 years old and are fast approaching the end of their useful service life.

The town has commissioned an engineering study of the Main Influent Sewage Pump Motors, Couplers and Controls. The study recommended replacing the existing motors and drives with high efficiency motors and permanent magnet adjustable speed drives. The study shows total system efficiency will improve from the current 80%-90% to 94%-97%.

The town estimates the annual energy consumed by the three electrical pump motors can be over 10 million kWh. Energy savings of 15% should be possible by upgrading to high efficiency motors and drives. Consequently, this activity will realize annual savings of 1,500,000 kWh or 1,047,750 kg of CO2 equivalent emission reduced.

Electric Vehicle Work Trucks

The Town of Amherst is planning to purchase two electric vehicle (EV) work trucks. These EV work trucks has 30-40 miles range per charge and provides the town a clean, zero emission alternative to conventional fueled trucks, which the town would normally purchase. The town will purchase the EV work truck model ZX40ST from Miles Electric Vehicles. Key specifications are:

• Maximum Speed - 25 mph
• Estimated Range - 30 to 40 miles
• Acceleration - 0 to 20 mph in 5 sec.
• Dimensions - 13'6" x 4'11" x 6'2"
• Wheel Base - 8'7"
• Cargo Capacity - 7'5" x 4'6" x 1'1"

The full specification of the ZX40ST EV work truck is available here.

For comparison purchase, conventional fueled trucks has combined city/highway mileage of 21 MPG with an annual Carbon Footprint of 8.7 tons or 17,400 Lbs of CO2 equivalent emission, according to the Government website www.fueleconomy.gov. According to Argonne National Laboratory, the EV work trucks will reduce total CO emission compared to conventional fueld trucks by 95%.

The town has secured funding under the Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) to pay for the cost difference between the EV work trucks and the alternative conventional fueled trucks.

Solar Panels at the Highway Department Building

The Town of Amherst has secured Federal funding to install solar Photovoltaic (PV) electric generation ("solar panels") at the Highway Department Building located at 1042 North Forest Road.

The town is considering to install a PV system that is capable of producing around 25kW of electric power and approximately 26,000 kWh of energy annually.

In addition to the Federal funding, the town will also pursue assistance funding from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Presently, NYSERDA is offering assistance in the amount of $1.75 per watt or $1,750 per kW for PV systems up to 50kW in size. The town is anticipating to receive approximately $43,750 assistance for the anticipated 25kW system.

New Sidewalks

The Town of Amherst has constructed 2.5 Miles of new sidewalks. $199,800 of Federal funds was secured by the Town to cover the construction cost of the project.

The new sidewalks will be installed in the Buckeye Road area including Larch and Spruce Roads, on the corner of Dodge Road and Casey Road, on Casey Road between Pinelake and East Pinelake Drives, and on the corner of Hopkins Road and Lakeside Drive.

The two maps to the right identifies the new sidewalks areas with numbered arrows 1, 3, 4 and 5. By hovering the mouse cursor over the map and click will bring up a zoom-in view of the new sidewalk areas.

The new sidewalks are made possible by funding from the Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.

Occupancy Light Sensors

The Town of Amherst has secured Federal funding to install occupancy sensors in all the restrooms inside town owned buildings.

Each bathroom has three (3) 2-lamp 32 Watts per lamp lighting fixtures which consumes approximately 225 Watts of power. The lights are often left on without the restrooms being used and are also left on beyond the occupied periods of the buildings.

The town will install overhead occupancy sensors in all 137 restrooms in the 12 town owned buildings. The sensors will turned off lights whenever the restroom is unoccupied. CO2 emissions.