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Energy agency's new building designed to use less energy

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Paul Jakubczak drove nearly 160 miles to find a low-emission, energy-efficient parking space. Reserved, too.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The Rock Falls utility manager - and his four-wheel-drive Toyota hybrid - joined dozens of municipal electric and elected officials at Thursday's dedication of the new $7 million headquarters of the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency in Springfield.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"It's great," said Jakubczak, who is municipal electric director for the northern Illinois community. "I thank these guys all the time for setting aside a parking space."</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Parking spaces for environmentally friendly vehicles and car pools are only the outward signs of a green building that relies on nine miles of underground piping for geothermal heating and cooling, reduces water usage by 30 percent, and adjusts its own lighting based on natural lighting available and the number of people in a room.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The headquarters off Old Jacksonville Road, just west of Veterans Parkway, is on a bus route. There are storage and shower facilities for employees who ride bicycles to work, and even the plants are environmentally correct.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"All of the plants are native to this area," said T. David Parker of Melotte Morse Leonatti, the Springfield firm that designed the Prairie-style building. The Dana-Thomas House designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright also served as a model.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">While the green construction cost about 5 percent more than a conventional design, association executives said savings would more than pay for the building, including $6,100 a year on energy bills alone.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We believe this will become a model for people from around the state," said general manager and CEO Ronald Earl, adding that the "real-time" power purchases in the high-tech control center would help keep costs down at a time of unpredictable energy markets.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"It's not about the electrons anymore, it's financial. It's just like playing the stock market," he said.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The control center is housed in a steel and concrete-reinforced room built to withstand an F5 tornado (winds of 261-318 miles per hour). The windows also have "hurricane shutters" that can be lowered during threatening weather, a feature used when severe thunderstorms hit the area earlier this month.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Earl recalled that one of two tornadoes that hit Springfield in March 2006 passed just a few blocks south of the former headquarters at 919 S. Spring St.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We were on a concrete slab there, and our engineers told us if the tornado had come two blocks north, it would have wiped it clean," he said.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Both Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Tim Davlin pointed out the IMEA headquarters likely would become the first Springfield building to receive the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">LEED certification is based on stringent national guidelines for environmentally friendly construction and restoration designs.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We have to be more efficient in the use of electricity, and that is what this is all about," said Quinn.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Tim Landis can be reached at (217) 788-1536.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Illinois Municipal Electric Agency</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> Not-for-profit association helps manage wholesale power supplies for 31 municipal utilities that in turn sell the electricity at retail. City Water, Light and Power of Springfield, Chatham, Riverton and Roodhouse are among the members.</font>

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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The new headquarters:</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> 3400 Conifer Drive.</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> $7 million cost paid through sale of tax-exempt municipal revenue bonds.</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> Three-story, Prairie-style design is 33,000 square feet, including a five-bay garage, 36-seat boardroom, executive conference facility, reinforced control center and a 72-hour backup generator.</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> Expected to become first building in Springfield to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Energy and environmental features include geothermal heating and cooling (no fossil fuels burned), reduced water usage, automated lighting controls, organic-compound paint and finishes, 50 percent of construction waste recycled, and "cool" roofing and paving materials.</font>

<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: ZapfDingbats">n</span><font face="Imperial"> The Illinois Municipal Utilities Association and the Illinois Public Energy Agency also have offices in the building.</font>