Grant helping make facilities more efficient
By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
CRANBURY The township is replacing windows at the Department of Public Works facility, seeking to make the building more energy efficient.
The approximately $8,600 project covers the cost of six new windows and is being paid for with a $100,000 sustainable economic growth grant from Middlesex County that also is being used to cover other energy-saving projects, Township Administrator Christine Smeltzer said.
The new windows should be installed within two months and will save energy because they will be better sealed, Ms. Smeltzer said.
The project is the fourth undertaken by the township using the grant money.
The township is following recommendations made by Metro Energy Solutions, a West Caldwell-based energy consulting company that completed an energy audit on Cranbury buildings in January 2008.
Cranbury paid Metro $7,748 to conduct the detailed inspection of Town Hall, the police station, the Dey, Cranbury Brook and Half Acre road pump stations, the firehouse and firehouse museum, Department of Public Works and the Cranbury Museum.
The report assessed energy use, costs and the potential savings from upgrades as well as the life span of some of the township’s older equipment.
The township has used about $27,000 of the grant money to replace the firehouse’s doors, $20,000 to upgrade the heating system and $19,900 to replace the Public Works building’s high voltage air condition system, said Denise Marabello, the township’s chief financial officer.
The next project the township plans to tackle using a portion of the remaining grant money will be to replace the older windows at the municipal building at a cost of approximately $20,000, Ms. Smeltzer said.