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From the tiny lights inside the exit signs above doorways to the diesel costs of heavy equipment, a task force is picking apart the entire city to find ways to cut energy costs.

They didn’t have to look far, according to the numbers presented to the group Wednesday night.

Public Works Director and City Engineer Michael Schmetzer is doing an extensive amount of research with Phil Sanders, facilities manager for the city of Fairbanks.

They join Councilwoman Tonya Brown, former city engineer John Phillips and Glenn Brady, a project manager for Sun-Air Sheet Metal Inc.

Marilynn Russell also serves on the committee but was absent from the meeting.

Schmetzer’s game plan is to provide the task force with a breakdown of each facility and the different energy expenditures each one costs the city.

“We need to focus on the areas where we’ll get the best return of money,” Schmetzer said.

Cutting tiny costs here and there isn’t what the task force is looking for because the changes needed to update the city are expensive.

“We’re looking for the long term benefits of cutting costs today,” Sanders said.

One of the first topics on the list was heating and lighting.

Schmetzer averaged the cost of heating oil for Public Works starting from 2005 to the present and found that, on average, the city uses about 35,380 gallons of heating oil per year.

At a cost of about $3 per gallon, total expenses amount to $106,000 a year.

Schmetzer has seen that cost double in the last year in almost every building.

“This is just stunning,” Schmetzer told the task force. “Now is absolutely the time to brainstorm and at this point every idea could be a good idea.”

Though the task force is still in its early stages, it reached a consensus that an energy audit would be necessary for City Hall and possibly the Public Works building off Peger Road.

Nearly every member of the task force could point out spots in the City Hall building where energy could be conserved.

“The more we talk of the city building, the more I think we need an energy audit,” Phillips said.

He also reminded the group of the single-paned windows on the north-facing side of the building that would need insulating.

“The old compact fluorescent lights need to be thrown out of the facility, too,” Phillips said. “That’s a must.”

The city will be replacing lights in all buildings with energy efficient lighting and motion sensors in less-populated areas.

Schmetzer presented the task force with a map that included every single street light on city property and had the idea of putting street lights on a timing system to save energy.

The task force is seeking council from city police Chief Dan Hoffman on the impact on crime if street lights were turned off.

Hoffman’s e-mail response showed that, almost inevitably, where there are no street lights, crime is more prevalent.

“It’s important that we keep this in mind,” Schmetzer said.

Funding is also something the task force has to keep in mind.

Pat Cole told the task force the city wasn’t aggressive enough when it asked for funds from the capital budget last year.

“The city was modest at best in their request last year for city facilities,” he said. “But we never anticipated such a hike in oil prices.”

The task force is also finding ways to get funding from the state capital budget to help fund the various projects.

The energy task force will be going over an electricity cost summary at its next meeting, which will allow the group to move forward rather quickly in its efforts.

That meeting is scheduled for June 24 in the City Council chambers.

Contact staff writer Rebecca George at 459-7504.