Sun Peaks Resort is trying out some greener fittings in its fire hall at the behest of a consultant who saw room for improvement.

Mayor Al Raine said Wednesday the owner of Ascent Systems, Vladimir Grebenyuk, has been at council meetings and pointed out ways the resort municipality could save money on heating and electrical costs.

“We should be much greener than we are,” said Raine.

Council wants to be more environmentally efficient, but was unsure whether new technology would necessarily mean saving money, he said.

So they agreed to spend about $12,000 with Grebenyuk’s company to have a heat pump installed in the fire hall and solar panels put in to warm up the building’s hot water. The heat pump will also make running the air conditioning more efficient in summer.

“We went into a small contract with him to see how he performs in delivering within estimated budget cost, and with energy and cost savings,” said Raine.

“It’s a small contract, so we said OK, take a run at this.”

Council has a policy wherein any spending over $15,000 requires a request for proposals. But this fell below that limit.

“Vladimir’s very dedicated to energy reduction. Council felt we should be, it does make sense,” he said.

“We weren’t really looking at stuff, but he kept submitting proposals and kept coming to our meetings.”

Sun Peaks council will review the results of the new technology in spring to see if it is saving money.

Grebenyuk has said the heat pump, a high-efficiency air-to-air system, should use up to three times less electricity than the current baseboard heaters and wall-mounted air conditioners.