News/Press

Elkhart Community Schools, Indiana
December 18, 2009

ECS Focused on Energy Conservation

Ted Foland, the district's newly-hired energy education specialist, describes the district's focus on energy conservation as a marathon, not a sprint.

"There is a lot we want to accomplish," Foland explained. "This is an effort that is going to take years."

Foland, who retired in June as athletic director at Central High School after 40 years in education, wasn't yet ready to leave the workforce. "I just needed a job change," he stated, adding he thinks this new position is a perfect fit for him. "I like the problem solving process. And I've got a bit of a mechanical background; I've built cars and restored things. I like to take things apart and put them back together."

His new job has him visiting each of the district's 26 buildings at all times of the day and night to monitor energy consumption and ensure the facilities are operating as efficiently as possible.

ECS energy manager Ted Foland checks out gauges in the basement of the J.C. Rice Educational Services Center   The district's expanded focus on energy conservation was adopted by the Elkhart Board of School Trustees in late October when it approved a contract with Energy Education, a consulting company that makes recommendations for reducing energy consumption. The company has more than 1,000 business, government, and education clients nationwide, including several school corporations in and around Elkhart County.

Hiring an energy education specialist is one of the initial recommendations of Energy Education, which guarantees its clients a 20 to 30 percent savings in utility costs over a 10-year period. 

Foland, who’s been on the job since early November, said he's already seen several areas Elkhart can improve on, but that it will take a joint effort among students and staff members to make the program successful.

He has already made several suggestions for energy reduction to administrators and staff members and will distribute formal guidelines for energy usage to each school building prior to Christmas break.

"Our goal is to save 15 percent this year," he said. "We're shooting to save over $1 million this year, and $15 million over 10 years."

These savings will go into the district's coffers to pay for other needs, such as instruction and transportation, which have taken big hits recently as state government scales back its funding to schools. 

Foland emphasized any of the energy-reducing initiatives that are utilized will not take away from the school day. "The changes will be outside of the school day," he stated. "Most of the changes won't be noticeable to students, who are only in the buildings for about a third of the day."

Foland said he's happy with the efforts staff members have been making so far. During the Thanksgiving break, for example, when he walked through all the classrooms in the corporation, he found many of them had been closed properly, with computers, printers, and monitors turned off, window blinds pulled down, and doors closed. 

"I was extremely pleased at the effort made," Foland said. “The Thanksgiving walk-throughs were joyful experiences. I was worried about people buying into it. The more you get the behavior changed, the better off you’re going to be."

Calling some corporation items, such as computer monitors, printers, and speakers, "vampire energy consumers," Foland said staff members typically turn their computers off, but often forget to shut off the monitor, printer, and speakers overnight. Even though these items go into low energy mode after several hours of non-usage, they still do expend some energy.

"One of these by itself is not a problem," Foland stated. "By we have more than 4,800 computers in the district. So following these small steps will result in huge savings."

Another simple step is to turn lights off when leaving the room, Foland added. Many of our buildings have sensors that automatically turn lights off if they don't detect motion for 10 to 15 minutes. So employees have begun to rely on these sensors.

“But we can still save energy if we turn the lights off when leaving the room instead of waiting for the sensor to shut them off 10 to 15 minutes later," Foland stated.

Foland is receiving training from Energy Education consultants who are heating and ventilation and mechanical specialists. “Many are licensed engineers," Foland reported. “Their education and level of knowledge is unbelievable."

One of Foland's main duties is to monitor energy usage during the five zones that make up a complete day. Zone one is the one to two hours prior to the start of the school day. Zone two is the time the buildings are occupied. Zone three is following the final bell, when the building goes into shutdown mode. Zone four is the evening hours, and zone five is late night and early morning.

During the unoccupied times of the day and night, the buildings' temperatures are set at 60 degrees. Energy Education recommended they be reduced to 55 degrees to achieve a savings in heating costs.

Foland stressed most buildings won’t see a big change in building temperature because it would take a lot of time, and very cold weather, to reach this point.

“If staff members follow our other recommendations, such as closing classroom and hallway doors and turning off exhaust fans, the heat will remain in the building longer,” Foland said. “The buildings will only get to 55 degrees late at night or early in the morning on very cold nights if at all.”

Foland has encountered incorrect temperatures in specific classrooms or other areas of the school during his late-night visits. He then reports these inconsistencies to Tony Gianesi, director of building services, and together they are able to rectify the problem.

“When you have 27 buildings and the large number of classrooms we have, you're going to find these things," Foland said. “It's not unusual. But we're trying to clean those up. We're trying to capture the wasted energy. It will save us money."

Foland is gathering the last 12 to 15 months in utility bills for each building to develop a baseline for energy consumption. The report will be shared with building administrations after six months of additional monitoring. 

“It's been interesting to see what we have paid in utility bills," Foland said. “It will be especially interesting to see the reactions of staff members to what we're paying at each building.

“Not because we’re doing anything wrong," Foland added, "but simply because of the size of our schools. Our high schools and middle schools are huge."

Prior to the new guidelines being released, Foland offered several basic rules for classroom teachers. Classroom doors should be kept closed during school day to keep the heat inside. Lights should be turned off when leaving the room. At the end of the day, the window blinds should be closed, and all computers and accessories should be turned off.

Simple steps such as these have the potential to save the district lots of money, Foland emphasized. At one of the schools he visited, Foland pointed out, he discovered a kitchen exhaust fan was running continuously. The district stands to save $3,000 just by turning that fan off at the end of the lunch period.

Another example Foland gave is each building displaying one Christmas tree in the school lobby instead of having multiple classrooms putting up their own lighted tree. “It's really just about using good common sense and not going overboard," Foland said.  

"After the Thanksgiving break, staff members asked, 'Did we pass,'" Foland continued, adding it's not a test. “I'm just another set of eyes to look for ways to save energy that we're now throwing out the windows.

"We're going to learn a lot this year," he added. "Next year we'll focus on how to apply what we learned this year. The percentage of what we can save depends on how well people cooperate with this. That will be the key to the success of the program."