Dane County, City of Madison & Slipstream Awarded Department of Energy Grant to Improve Energy Efficiency at City-County Building

February 01, 2021
Ariana Vruwink
County Executive

Today, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced the US Department of Energy will give Dane County, the City of Madison, and local nonprofit Slipstream nearly $1 million to retrofit the City-County Building with high performance, triple-paned windows and cost-effective LED lighting systems. The funding is being made available through the Department’s Building Technologies Proving Ground – Public Sector Field Validation Funding Opportunity.

Leveraging US Department of Energy funding, the team will retrofit the City-County Building with triple-paned windows, cost-effective LED lighting systems coupled with networked lighting controls and integrated into the building automation system. This project will demonstrate whole-building energy savings resulting from integrated HVAC and lighting systems that save 10% and 60%, respectively, while providing key grid services simultaneously.

“Dane County is excited to have this opportunity to explore next-generation energy efficiency technologies and further reduce our energy usage,” said Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. “We are always eager to share what we learn about energy savings with others local governments hoping to make improvements, and we look forward to carrying out this project at the City-County Building.”

“Madison is pleased to partner with Dane County and Slipstream on this project that will increase efficiency and occupant comfort at the City-County Building,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “What we learn from this project can strengthen the case for energy retrofits in more of our own buildings, and for buildings throughout the city.”

The project is expected to total about $1.5 million, with Dane County and the City of Madison allocating approximately $500k in matching funds. Implementation of the project will begin in the spring of 2021 and continue through 2023. In addition to installing the efficient technologies, the funding will enable the team to measure energy usage before and after the installation so others can learn from the project.

“This project is exciting in that it lets us add to the solutions that our researchers already know can maximize energy savings, such as smart lighting and HVAC controls,” explained Frank Greb, CEO of Slipstream. “By exploring other technologies like triple-paned windows, we get to see just how much energy we can save when more things in our buildings work together—especially at peak usage.” Peak usage refers to the timeframe with the highest demand for electricity from the grid, typically occurring on hot afternoons.

The project will also leverage technical expertise from Focus on Energy and MGE, the local energy utility.