By Sara Wood
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-981694.mp3
Wilmington, NC – Wilmington is going green, and replacing a section of roof shared by City Hall and Thalian Hall brings the city one step closer to this goal. WHQR's Sara Wood reports that along with the roof renovation, several other energy conservation projects will be finished by late fall.
The $64,000 is being paid for with part of a $1 million federal grant awarded to Wilmington to find ways to conserve energy. Malissa Talbert with the City of Wilmington says that the grant will stretch far, covering 17 other projects.
"You know, we've got to be smart about the money that we have. It's not enough to do everything we need to do obviously so we had to do what we could do both, number one, what we could afford and, number two, what made the most sense and was going to give us the greatest return on our dollar."
Talbert says the physical changes to the roof will be less apparent than the financial changes.
"We hope you won't notice anything. Again, this is a portion of the roof that you can't see. The only thing that we hope will be noticeable is that when we get our power bill, that there's going to be a significant savings in our heating costs and our cooling costs."
Several buildings at the River Road Operations Center are getting solar panels, including the fleet facility for city vehicles. Crews will also improve heating, lighting, thermostats and plumbing. Talbert says that while these projects will finish by late fall, the city will continue to find ways to conserve energy costs.
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