Harper County

Harper County is located in South Central Kansas and has a population of 5,900.
The county seat is located in Anthony, KS, which is also the largest city in the
county. Harper County engaged ESP to perform an initial Preliminary Energy Analysis to
determine whether an energy-saving project would be financially feasabile, and
then instructed ESP to proceeded with an Investment Grade Energy Audit to fully
identify opportunities to reduce operating costs and develop a project that would
pay for itself from energy savings.

Although all of the buildings were well maintained, many of the systems were reaching the end of their useful life and could be replaced with new, more efficient systems. The Courthouse, built in 1908, created the biggest challenge since it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The three story brick structure was still using a low-pressure steam boiler that was original to the building (it was converted from coal to natual gas in 1953). It had some ductwork installed in the past for cooling, but no new visible ductwork could be added due to the building's historic status.

Courthouse
The largest portion of the upgrades occured at the courthouse. To address the challenge of replacing the boiler, ESP installed two new condensing hot water boilers and replaced the water-source heat pumps with new more efficient models that would provide both heating and cooling. ESP also installed new lighting, water-saving plumbing fixtures, learning thermostats, and a new cooling tower.

Jail, Health Department and Senior Center
The Sheriff ’s Office/County Jail received new lighting, low-flow plumbing devices,
and an improved irrigation control system to better manage water use. The
Health Department received new lighting, low-flow plumbing devices and learning
thermostats to better control heating and cooling during both occupied and unoccupied
hours. The Senior Center received new lighting and learning thermostats.

Harper County was able to reduce energy costs and address several system and maintenace issues by installing new heating and cooling systems as part of the project. The county also gained better control of space comfort and improved light levels in all of the buildings.