GEOTHERMAL TELLS IT TO CITY HALL

New, green City Hall designed for a century; It features geothermal heating system, other touches
Mary Divine, May 9, 2010 (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

"There are hardly any light switches in the new Oak Park Heights City Hall…Energy-saving LED lights turn on only if a sensor detects motion, heat and sound; photometric sensors adjust indoor lighting to compensate for daylight.

"The new $6.5 million municipal building, which opens May 17, also features a state-of-the-art geothermal heating and cooling system, rain gardens and a heat-recovery system that reclaims energy from the air before it is discharged outside…City officials pushed for green, sustainable construction techniques to save money and help the environment…"

Lowering heating costs (click to enlarge)

"In addition, the new City Hall, just north and west of the old one, is more customer-friendly…The building's signature design item is its soaring rotunda, which is warmed by in-floor radiant heat…Architect Randy Engel said the 32,000-square-foot building — built of brick and limestone — is designed to last 50 to 100 years…

"Engel said the building's design includes only green features that made economic sense. A green roof, for instance, didn't make sense in Minnesota…[Estimates showed] it would have cost about the same to remodel the old City Hall as to build a new, energy-efficient structure…[even including] energy-efficient measures, such as the geothermal heating and cooling system…"

Lowering cooling costs (click to enlarge)

"The geothermal system will save the city about $25,000 a year…[Its cost was] an additional $300,000…but it will take only 12 years to pay back…

"In keeping with the city's green theme, most of the items from the old building are being recycled…"