Today, with the help of First Lady Jane Beshear and executive cabinet members, the Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) announced plans for several new permanent greening initiatives that will be ready by the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, being held at the park September 25-October 10, 2010.

The park has been approved for a combination of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds and low-interest loans, totaling nearly $5.7 million that will be repaid by the cost savings in energy and maintenance resulting from the projects.

"By taking these aggressive efficiency measures, the Kentucky Horse Park is demonstrating the value of energy conservation and how it has a positive impact on our environment now and in the future," said Beshear. "As a World Equestrian Games (WEG) board member and as a Kentuckian, I am confident that when our international guests arrive for the Games, they will be impressed with our world-class facility in the Kentucky Horse Park."

She added, "I am a firm believer in leading by example, and over the last couple of years, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has made great strides to make state-owned facilities more energy efficient and environmentally friendly."

The energy conversation measures range from renewable energy solutions to innovative and traditional Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) and cost savings. Once the cost of the design, installation and maintenance of the energy conversation measures are paid, all further savings will generate revenue for the park indefinitely.

"It is imperative that we protect and improve the integrity of our land, water and air, which have had fundamental roles in making Kentucky the Horse Capital of the World," said John Nicholson, executive director of KHP. "I'm very proud that the Kentucky Horse Park will be a flagship in the movement toward better stewardship of these treasures, while operating the park more efficiently. In addition to being the right thing to do at this time, the progressive measures we're taking now will benefit the people, animals and environment of our great commonwealth for many years to come."

The park secured funding from two sources: an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) and an ARRA grant, administered by the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority's Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The $1.95 million ARRA award will be structured as 50% low interest and 50% principal forgiveness loans.

An ESPC is an agreement between a state government facility and an Energy Services Company (ESCO) in which energy-efficiency improvement projects are financed through the savings these projects are guaranteed to produce. The ESCO for this project is Ameresco Inc., the largest independent energy services provider in North America. Ameresco has an office in Louisville.
Kentucky's Energy and Environment receives the federal funding for the ESPC program, which is administered by the Finance and Administration Cabinet.

"ESPC's are a great resource for government buildings to conserve energy and money through facility improvements and upgrades that will pay for themselves and eventually earn revenue," said Jonathan Miller, secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet. "Energy reduction measures that may seem futuristic to us now will become more routine in daily life and in new construction as we learn more ways to reduce our carbon footprint."

An extensive inflow and infiltration project at KHP will benefit the park and also the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) sewer district. The existing antiquated KHP sanitary sewer system has historically been impacted by the infiltration and inflow when it rains. This has caused the sewer bills to rise for this facility disproportionally when compared to the potable water consumption.

This ESPC project includes repair of the sanitary sewer manholes and repair or replacement of the sewer piping, resulting in an approximate $149,000 annual savings on the sewer bill. Preventing the infiltration of rain water into the system will eliminate approximately 26 million gallons of waste water from going to the LFUCG sewer plant for treatment.

Another project that will provide multiple cost-saving benefits to the park is the Energy From Waste facility, funded by the ARRA award. It will use a biomass gasification process for the disposal of horse manure. In the gasification process, horse manure will be gasified to produce so called ´producer gas´ for electricity generation.

Based on historic and projected muck generation at the park, there is an opportunity to produce approximately 1.6 Megawatts of electricity annually from KHP's muck production. This will offset the park's electrical needs, reducing the annual cost for electricity by approximately $84,000. It will also eliminate the cost of muck disposal, saving the park $133,899 annually. The Energy from Waste facility will produce less greenhouse gases than the continued transport of muck to a landfill.

The total estimated annual cost savings for all of the efficiency measures announced today will be $582,000.
Additional greening initiatives include:

• Solar tracking skylights—The installation of 44 solar skylight tracking systems at the park's existing covered arena. Solar Tracking Skylights consist of highly reflective mirror panels within a clear plastic enclosure, which move continuously to follow the sun's position in the sky, eliminating the need for electric lighting of the arena during daylight hours.
• Upgrades to the existing swimming pool—Ameresco will install one Dolphin Ozonate Pool Purification System for the Campground's 160,000 gallon swimming pool. The Dolphin Ozonate Pool Purification System will keep the swimming pool clean and save over 90% on chemical costs and 50% on pump running cost. The system does not use salt or produce any corrosive chemicals or agents.
• Solar-powered trash compactor—KHP's trash removal charges are based on volume and the frequency of pick up. A new Marathon Solar Powered VIP trash compactor will be installed to reduce the volume of waste by a fourth and generate electrical power through a solar panel.
• Solar domestic water—The installation of two solar domestic water heating systems will be installed at the campground bathhouses. The systems will provide warm water without the use of electricity.