VENTURA : Study OKd on Ways to Cut Utility Use
The Ventura City Council approved plans Monday for a study on ways to reduce water, gas and power use by four of the city’s largest utility customers.
The council voted 7 to 0 at its weekly meeting in favor of spending $10,000 to have engineers examine plumbing and wiring at the Doubletree Hotel, the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., the Ventura Coastal Corp. juice plant and the Ventura County Medical Center.
Working with Southern California Edison and the Southern California Gas Co., the engineers will recommend ways the facilities can make their equipment--from boilers to toilets--more efficient.
Before the meeting, council members signed an agreement with the utilities that requires that the engineers’ recommendations help the four facilities save enough on utility bills to recover the cost of the modifications within two years.
The utilities are contributing $10,000 each and the state Department of Water Resources is contributing $20,000 to the $50,000 study.
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is interested in the results of the study, which could become a prototype for such efforts nationwide, said Charlie Pike, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources.
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