Efforts to reduce the amount of energy at its new wastewater treatment facility have paid off for the village of Whiting.

A representative from Focus on Energy -- Wisconsin's statewide energy efficiency program -- was at the plant Friday to hand village officials a $34,000 check to help it pay for some of the many energy-efficient components that make up the $4.8 million plant.

Touring the facility with Joe Cantwell, Focus on Energy's industrial energy adviser, and Mike Resch, an account executive with Wisconsin Public Service, Whiting Utilities manager Matt Saloun and Kim Hoppenrath, chairman of the village's utilities committee, rattled off a list of energy-saving elements that went into the design and construction of the facility.

Some of the major elements include solar panels that heat the building and generate power, skylights, solar thermal heating, carbon dioxide monitoring and several variable frequency drive, or VFD, motors, used in nearly all elements of the wastewater reclamation process. The facility even has a white roof, which reflects sunlight, reducing cooling costs.

"These are our blowers over here. They provide aeration for our aerobic digesters. The VFDs are much more energy-efficient, compared to our old ones that just wailed away," Saloun explained.

Because of all the energy efficiencies, the plant should consume about one-fifth of the energy consumed by similar-sized wastewater treatment plants, Saloun said.

The village applied for the grant from Focus on Energy in the spring of 2008, when it was just beginning efforts to construct the plant.

The previous wastewater plant was 27 years old, and in addition to being at capacity, equipment failures affected the village's ability to meet permit limits, Hoppenrath said in June. The new plant, which exceeds state standards, was built by reusing and renovating portions of the old facility.

Cantwell, who helped the department determine what efficiencies they could implement to save energy, said the facility is an energy-saving success.

"They understood the concepts that we were looking for," he said.