LEWISTON — Efforts to make operations run more efficiently have saved the city $80,600 this year — about $30,000 more than the goal.

“That’s about a 4 percent reduction in annual energy costs, and I hoped we’d have been able to reach 10 percent,” said Ian Houseal, assistant to the city administrator.

Houseal began working as the city’s energy specialist a year ago. He offered a report Tuesday to city councilors on what he’s been able to accomplish.

“One of the requirements when we hired him was that he be able to pay his salary with the money we saved,” Councilor Betty Dube said. “With that understanding in place, I think it was very important to have him come out and talk about what we’ve done.”

According to Houseal, the city spends about $1.87 million a year on energy — about 4 percent of the city’s overall budget.

About 40 percent of that goes to power, heat and cool city buildings, including fire stations, the library and schools. Twenty-four percent goes to power streetlights and 22 percent to run city vehicles.

Houseal said the city has targeted each of those areas. For example, new boilers in City Hall and the fire department substations were installed this year, costing $15,390.

The city has also installed lighting and heating controls to cut down on energy waste and has linked those systems to a single master control.

The city has also reduced the number of streetlights and is testing new energy-efficient LED and high-pressure sodium lights to see which work better, Houseal said.

And, the city is investigating using a GPS system to track how city vehicles are being used.

Councilor Denis Theriault, who has been backing a policy banning vehicle-idling by city employees, said he likes the GPS idea.

“That’s what we really need, to get overall information about how the city vehicles are being used and how they can be used more efficiently,” Theriault said. “When I heard that was the idea, I knew that’s what we have to do.” 

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