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Nearly every day, at least one media outlet somewhere in the country carryies a story about the success of our clients’ behavior-based energy conservation programs. Below are just a few examples of the great work they are doing, and the privilege it is to serve them in such tangible, noteworthy ways.
Energy Education Media Contact: Jan Noel-Smith 214.273.2814 jnoelsmith@energyed.com
Energy Education Media Fact Sheet
Observer & Eccentric April 23, 2009
Energy efficiency key for Northville schools Saved nearly quarter million dollars in a year
By Nathan Menoian CORRESPONDENT
The Northville school district is becoming more energy efficient. In just a year's time their cost avoidance savings is nearly $250,000.
Last year, the district signed a five-year contract with Energy Education in Dallas, Texas. With 1,300 clients nationwide, the firm helps provide effective training to implement behavioral and organizational change substantially reducing energy consumption without purchasing new equipment.
And just one year into the contract, results are proving significant and the district is embracing the program with open arms.
Dave Bolitho, assistant school superintendent for Northville, says getting the district's administrators, teachers and staff to fully realize the significance of the program was a bit slow at first, but rapidly progressed.
“Overcoming behavior habits, managing decade-old heating and cooling systems, and incorporating a complicated software package to coordinate daily and monthly energy comparisons takes time,” he said.
Historically, the average savings for Energy Education clients nationally exceeds 20 percent per year. The program is funded solely and rapidly by the savings it generates, allowing clients to redirect saved energy dollars to other priorities.
GETTING STARTED
Bolitho explained the background of the district's energy program. “Two years ago, Administrative Services had an energy conservation goal to develop awareness so that people would change energy behavior patterns. We soon realized that we weren't sophisticated enough, and the desire to save money by doing this ourselves wasn't working.”
They contacted other school districts including Walled Lake, Novi, Farmington, Livonia, and Ypsilanti, asking if they were satisfied with Energy Education Inc. services.
“There wasn't a negative comment about the company from any of the schools. We then recommended to our district that they consider a contract with them, and brought in a representative from Energy Education Inc. We shared how successful the other school districts were with the program, and that the company guaranteed a certain threshold of savings for each year of the five-year contract,” he said.
The district also needed a software package that would level the playing field for differences in temperatures when recording daily and month-to-month energy comparisons. After much research, one was purchased that met their needs.
ENTER RICK WELCH
The contract also required that an Energy Manager be hired from within the district.
Rick Welch, a paraprofessional at Northville High, was hired for the part-time job, taking on four additional hours to his existing seven-hour day. Part of his managerial duties includes being in a building, before and after school, to check all the energy variables of the building.
“Rick makes sure that we drop back to 55 degrees once school is dismissed.
“He walks through at unoccupied times, making sure we're in setback and notes all the hot and cool spots. All of that data is entered into the computer, and if there are any problems, we can get right to the source and fix it.” Bolitho said.
“He also checks to see how many computer monitors are left on and communicates back with each school principal on those types of issues. With 1,200 computers in the district, energy savings are astronomical when putting monitors in sleep mode.”
Over 100 personally-owned small refrigerators were counted throughout the district. Those appliances are very inefficient, so the district decided to purchase a number of energy star refrigerators, placing them strategically in each building, and asking that employee-owned refrigerators be removed.
Lighting is another area the district is working on. “We have an experiment, right after spring break for the high school. We'll take an entire wing, hall and classroom, putting in a tube that uses less electricity, and removing one tube from every classroom. Not only will we save on that one tube, but also on $1,200 worth of light tubes. And there is no visible difference in the lighting reduction,” Bolitho said.
Though some of the district's buildings are newer and have more efficient systems in place, the board office was built in 1936. Bolitho noted that the heat there is either on or off with no control. There are 11 buildings in the district.
The district has put together an Energy Management System (EMS) for most all of the schools and main office, consisting of one electrician, two HVAC technicians, an energy manager, Director of Operations, and a custodial supervisor.
“Winchester Elementary was having a series of problems with heating and cooling,” Bolitho said. “We needed to get that problem fixed and spent a lot of time there to investigate and gather information, and stabilize the system. We've made the teaching and learning environment much better for those in the building.”
Having their EMS team in place, Bolitho believes that with the district's introspection of how energy is used and what can be done to conserve it, energy costs will improve even more.
“If we follow the plan, we're looking at $3.5 million in energy cost reduction and savings at the end of our five-year contract,” he said.
Additional Facts
Highlighting ways the school district’s new energy efficiency program has been successful, Dave Bolitho, assistant school superintendent for Northville, listed several:
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