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In 2022, our teams filled more than 950 bags of garbage.

GOOD BETTER

It can be small steps — replacing less-efficient light bulbs or outdated boilers. Sometimes it’s bigger steps — designing a new building with high-efficiency equipment or using solar panels to generate electricity.

All of those improvements are part of our goal to make energy-efficiency investments where and when it makes sense. The Dakota County Board of Commissioners adopted a strategy in 2022 that supports energy conservation measures to cut energy costs, reduce fossil fuel use and curb greenhouse gas emissions. There are different goals for upgrades funded with county tax dollars and other funding sources.

County facilities consume electricity and natural gas totaling $2 million in annual expense to county taxpayers. Energy upgrades to existing buildings as well as high-efficiency design features in new buildings help the county’s bottom line.

County government’s electricity usage, per square foot, has decreased steadily over the past 12 years. There is a 17-percent overall reduction in energy use since 2011.

County buildings — service and license centers, library locations and more — vary in age, so they have different systems based on what equipment was available during construction. When systems such as lighting and boilers need to be replaced, we upgrade to more efficient options. For example, LED lights and timers take the place of fluorescent bulbs, and old boilers are swapped out for energysaving models.

A building renovation is an opportunity to improve energy efficiency. Two library projects have shown how effective that can be at reducing energy costs.

In 2019, we remodeled Heritage Library in Lakeville and Pleasant Hill Library in Hastings. At Heritage Library, we installed LED lighting throughout the space and new windows in the children’s area. Those improvements cut Heritage’s electricity use per square foot by 36 percent.

We’ve seen big savings at Pleasant Hill, too. That building’s square footage increased by 8 percent in the renovation, which included more energy-efficient windows throughout the building, two new boilers and LED lighting. Making those changes reduced the building’s energy use per square foot by 25–30 percent. Electricity use dropped 22 percent and gas fell by 29 percent.

We are planning more building upgrades to improve energy efficiency in 2023. The county has committed to spending $1 million on improvements such as lighting retrofits, boiler replacements or solar panel installations. The county board will select those projects later this year.

New building construction allows us to consider newer technology, energy-saving equipment and modern features. While they can cost more up front, there is less expense to taxpayers over the long run with a more efficient system.

Energy-saving features that are standard in new county buildings include extra insulation, higherquality windows, LED lighting and high-efficiency boilers and chillers.

Those features are part of the county’s new South St. Paul Library, scheduled to open in early 2024. Like other Dakota County Library system buildings, the 16,000-square-foot South St. Paul Library will be roughly 30 percent more efficient than standard libraries across the Upper Midwest. We know that because we can compare our energy estimates to the reported energy use of other buildings.

Beginning in 2022, when the county receives state funding for building projects, we need to meet certain energy efficiency requirements that are even higher than the county’s standards. We use that state funding — rather than Dakota County tax dollars — to pay for equipment needed to meet state sustainability goals. Our taxpayers benefit when the county’s future energy costs are less.

The first county building that will meet new state energy standards is the Crisis and Recovery Center, a 15,000-square-foot facility located near the Northern Service Center in West St. Paul. That short-term residential treatment center will offer beds for adults who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

The crisis center will feature on-site energy generation supplying a portion of the building’s energy. Solar panels will produce electricity.

A geothermal system will convert heat from the ground into energy for the building. On-site energy production estimates will be determined as design and construction continue this year. The crisis center is planned to open in 2024.

“Net zero” is an emerging energy goal in construction. It can mean the energy used by a building is completely offset by energy produced on site, such as with solar panels or geothermal heat pumps. Dakota County has studied whether its new buildings can be built to this net-zero standard, but the county has determined this is not yet cost-effective to taxpayers. It takes too long to recover the higher cost for equipment.

The county has found other ways to cut energy costs.

We partnered with utility provider Dakota Electric on a program to reduce costs at Western Service Center (WSC) in Apple Valley and Wescott Library in Eagan. Those buildings have generators that supply backup electricity. When energy use is in high demand, such as on hot summer days, we get our energy from the building generators instead of from Dakota Electric.

This “off-peak” program cut our energy cost per square foot by 30 percent at WSC and a similar reduction at Wescott. The county saves $23,000 per year on electricity at Wescott alone.

At WSC, we installed LED lighting and a new generator in 2014. As a result of those improvements and the off-peak program with Dakota Electric, we cut electricity costs by 40 percent — a $77,000 savings per year to taxpayers.

We work with utility providers on other projects that save taxpayer dollars and allow the county to operate on renewable energy. For example, solar panels at our Empire Maintenance Facility have produced about 12 percent of the energy used at that site. We are upgrading the solar panel system to one that will generate an estimated 66 percent of the facility’s electricity needs.

This solar upgrade comes at no direct cost to county taxpayers. We pay a renewable energy company to install and maintain the solar panels. In return, the county receives credits from Xcel Energy for using renewable energy, and the credits exceed the cost of the solar maintenance. We expect to save $20,000 to $40,000 in electricity costs at Empire annually over 20 years.

Buildings and facilities aren’t the county’s only sources of energy use. We maintain a fleet of more than 260 vehicles and nearly 500 pieces of equipment, including trailers, snowblowers and lawn mowers. The vehicles are used by many departments, and we’re always working to improve their sustainability. That’s done through proper maintenance, well-timed purchases and reduced fuel use. This is good for the environment and for taxpayers.

Getting the right vehicle for the job is important. Since all department vehicles were consolidated into one fleet department about 15 years ago, we have worked to match the appropriate — and often smaller — vehicle for the work needed. That includes replacing larger pickup trucks with smaller trucks or swapping out an SUV for a sedan. We’re also using less fuel because we gradually replace our gasoline vehicles with hybrid cars, SUVs and trucks that rely primarily on battery power but also use some gas.

Nearly all the Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles are hybrid as are two-thirds of the county’s sedan fleet. We don’t upgrade vehicles just because there is a more efficient option. Seven factors are used to determine when vehicles are replaced.

All our hybrid vehicle purchases have been costeffective. They generally cost about $5,000 more to purchase, but we recover that in under 50,000 miles through less fuel use.

Over the past 17 years, we’ve improved our fleet’s fuel efficiency by 32 percent. That’s a big savings when you consider that county vehicles logged a total of nearly 2.6 million miles in 2021. We also estimate that these sustainability efforts have reduced the county fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent.

In 2023, the county is purchasing its first allbattery vehicles in a pilot project to study how well they work for certain uses, such as parks, library and facility staff. We’ll track costs to help us decide whether it is more cost-effective per mile to use e-vehicles for certain county work.

The county charges its hybrid vehicles at stations located at some of our buildings and facilities. The public also has had access to the charging stations at Lebanon Hills and Whitetail Woods regional parks, Thompson County Park, Spring Lake Park Reserve, Pleasant Hill and Heritage library locations, and Empire Maintenance Facility.

In 2023, we will add charging stations at Empire as well as the Administration Center in Hastings and the Northern and Western service centers. There will be a small fee to charge privately owned vehicles at the county’s charging stations. This helps offset the cost of offering this service to the public.

Our work to improve vehicle efficiency hasn’t gone unnoticed. Dakota County’s fleet department has been recognized many times by government and industry organizations. In 2022, it was named the top fleet operation in the United States by Government Fleet, a leading trade publication, and the American Public Works Association. That award recognized our efficiency, staff leadership, vision and ability to overcome challenges.

Budgeting for the county’s future fuel use is one of those challenges. We have found ways to save money in this area by partnering with 50 metro counties and cities to purchase fuel in bulk.

By contracting for bulk purchase rather than paying at the pump, we saved $717,000 over the past 14 years. In 2022 alone, we saved roughly $200,000 by buying in bulk at $2.81 per gallon of unleaded gas compared to the local average pump price of $3.57 per gallon.

Dakota County is not only an energy consumer, but a renewable energy generator as well.

The county owns the 110-year-old Byllesby Dam, located along the Cannon River about 18 miles south of Hastings. The dam creates Lake Byllesby Reservoir, which provides fishing and water recreation.

The dam, which uses the flowing river water to power turbines, generates enough energy to power about 2,400 households. For many years, the county sold the electricity it generated from the dam to Xcel Energy. Revenue from those sales helped to maintain the dam.

After more than a century of operation, the dam needed safety and efficiency upgrades. Later this year, we will complete work on a multi-year dam safety and efficiency improvement project, including the installation of two new turbines and other upgrades. The new, more efficient equipment will nearly double the amount of energy the dam can produce — from 2.4 megawatts to 4.5 megawatts. That will be enough to light up roughly 5,000 homes.

When the improvements are complete, the county will sell the dam-generated electricity on the open market, entering into agreement with one or more energy distributors. Byllesby Dam turbines will be back online and producing electricity in 2024.

Due to its location in rural Dakota County, the dam’s energy production is not used to power county facilities. The county board has studied this possibility but concluded that it would not be costeffective to taxpayers to build the infrastructure needed to send electricity from the dam to county buildings at this time.

Here is how the $41 million project is funded:

• $22 million in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds

• $12 million in state bond proceeds

• $7 million in county funds

The county will recover its $7 million investment from future energy production at the dam. Investing in this clean, renewable energy source is good for the environment and for taxpayers.

From the Byllesby Dam to building design, vehicle replacement to lighting upgrades, Dakota County takes the right steps to improve energy efficiency, use more renewable sources and save taxpayer dollars.

If you or a loved one served in the military during Vietnam, the Gulf War or after Sept. 11 and were exposed to toxic chemicals, you could be eligible for new VA health benefits.

District 1 board@co.dakota.mn.us

Includes the cities of Coates, Farmington, Hampton, Hastings, Miesville, New Trier, Northfield (Precinct 2), Randolph and Vermillion; townships of Castle Rock, Douglas, Eureka, Greenvale, Hampton, Marshan, Nininger, Randolph, Ravenna, Sciota, Vermillion and Waterford.

District 2

Includes the cities of Inver Grove Heights (Precincts 1 and 4–10), South St. Paul and West St. Paul.

District 3

Includes the cities of Eagan (Precincts 1–12); Lilydale, Mendota, Mendota Heights and Sunfish Lake.

District 4

Includes the cities of Eagan (Precincts 13–18), Inver Grove Heights (Precincts 2, 3, 11 and 12), Lakeville (Precincts 16 and 18) and Rosemount (Precincts 1, 2, 4, 6–8); township of Empire.

District 5

Includes the city of Burnsville.

District 6

Includes the city of Lakeville (Precincts 1–15 and 17).

District 7

Includes the cities of Apple Valley (Precincts 1–16) and Rosemount (Precincts 3 and 5).