County spotlights jail HVAC, Ranch roofing and geothermal emergency building in climate update

Larimer County officials highlighted a series of facility projects tied to the county’s climate goals, including a jail HVAC overhaul, a new energy-saving air curtain at Fleet Services, reflective roofing at Blue Arena and an emergency services building expected to open in August with a geothermal system. The updates came as part of the county’s Internal Climate Action, Resilience and Education plan, which sets a goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from county facilities 62% by 2030.

Abby Stapleton, the program coordinator presenting the update, said the jail HVAC project was prompted by a federal mandate on inmate cell temperatures. She said staff chose a direct-air, or DX, system because it could be installed without major changes to the jail’s existing mechanical setup, allowing the county to use existing replacement-plan dollars for what she described as an unfunded mandate. Stapleton said the jail was already meeting the state’s 2030 energy-use-intensity target before the upgrade and continues to do so.

Stapleton said another 2025 project was a new air curtain at the Fleet campus, designed to reduce energy loss when large garage doors are opened. She said the system helps keep conditioned air inside a building that can otherwise be difficult to operate efficiently because of the constant door openings.

At The Ranch, staff reported that Blue Arena received white reflective roofing material as part of a broader effort to replace aging infrastructure with more efficient systems. Stapleton said the reflective roof is being piloted in place of more typical dark roofing materials, with additional roof projects planned. Chris, a Ranch staff member, added that the Blue Arena roof also had to meet FM Global engineering standards for hail, wind and moisture resistance, which he said helps the county maintain lower insurance deductibles and avoid costly claims.

Commissioner John Kefalas asked whether heat pumps could work in a large building such as the jail and whether photovoltaic roofing materials had been considered for county facilities. Stapleton said a heat-pump conversion at the jail would likely require major internal changes and would have been difficult to pursue on the timeline of the federal mandate. On roofing, she said solar shingles are more common in housing and that larger solar panels would likely make more sense for county buildings, though future Ranch projects will depend on budget decisions.

Stapleton said the county’s next major built-environment milestone is the emergency services project, which is scheduled to come online in August. She said staff are eager to see how the geothermal system performs for both occupant comfort and building energy use.