Title
Energy Audits of Municipal Buildings
PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND:
Purpose To present Town Council with findings and recommendations from recent professional energy audits of four key municipal facilities: Century Center, Town Hall, Fire Station 1, and Fire Station 2, with a primary focus on proposed LEED Gold rebuild for the Century Center.
Background To support the Carrboro Connects Comprehensive Plan goal of reducing municipal greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 2010 levels by 2030, the Town initiated comprehensive building energy audits. These audits provide three critical functions:
• Efficiency Benchmarking: Establishes current energy usage and emissions baselines for each facility and benchmarks performance against similar buildings in the Southeast.
• Asset Management & Budgeting: Delivers a complete equipment inventory - cataloging age, condition, and efficiency ratings - to assist with capital planning and end-of-life replacements.
• Targeted Investments: Identifies high-impact Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) with project cost estimates to guide CIP budget requests and prioritize capital investments.
The audit identified the Century Center as the Town's highest-consuming, highest-emitting, and least energy-efficient facility. Consequently, this report details the specific audit findings for the Century Center and outlines staff recommendation for the consideration of a complete LEED Gold rebuild, transforming the Century Center into the new Town Hall. This pathway will provide the largest reduction of carbon emissions and annual utility bills, with the shortest ROI compared to the complete list of ECMs. The inefficient building and aging internal infrastructure put substantial limitations on what ECMs can be implemented and their effectiveness.
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Climate Action Department
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL AND STAFF IMPACT:
Financial Impact This report is informational and carries no immediate financial impact. However, implementing the recommended LEED Gold Rebuild of the Century Center will deliver long-term operational savings, including greatly reduced utility bills and lower maintenance expenses - directly supporting the Town’s target of an 80% reduction in municipal emissions by 2030.
Staff & Operational Impact Modernizing end-of-life equipment will reduce emergency repairs, ongoing maintenance demands, and staff labor hours required for upkeep. In addition, the rebuild will improve overall occupant comfort, seasonal temperature regulation, and indoor air quality for staff and visitors.
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Community Impact
COMMUNITY IMPACT: This report is informational and carries no immediate community impact. However, in the long-term, a LEED Gold rebuild of the Century Center will substantially lower municipal greenhouse gas emissions and improve local air quality, directly advancing community-wide climate resilience and public health.
In the short term, construction will cause disruption at the central downtown building site and will require closure of the Century Center during the rebuild process. Staff will develop an execution plan and public outreach strategy to minimize impacts on community programming, events, and public access.
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Climate Impact
CLIMATE IMPACT: This report is informational and carries no immediate climate or environmental impact. However, a LEED Gold rebuild of the Century Center - the Town’s highest-emitting facility - is critical to achieving our Carrboro Connects target of an 80% reduction in municipal greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. While construction activity generates localized carbon emissions, air pollution, and waste, these short-term environmental impacts are far outweighed by the building's long-term, permanent reduction in energy usage and emissions. To minimize these negative impacts, project execution will strictly adhere to the Town’s High-Performance Building Policy and contractors will be required to minimize site impacts during construction.
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