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Energy Works recently awarded South Lyon Community Schools a $5,000 matching grant for their efforts to improve the energy efficiency of the Bartlett Elementary School building in South Lyon, MI. The school is participating in the Energy Efficiency Program (administered by Energy Works), which provides technical assistance to public, private and charter K-12 schools in the State of Michigan to develop a detailed plan for energy efficiency upgrades to their building. The program is funded by the Michigan Public Service Commission.
Energy Works partnered with Integrated Design Solutions to conduct a comprehensive Technical Energy Analysis (TEA), or energy audit, of the Bartlett Elementary School building. The energy audit is provided free to the district, at the school facility selected to participate in the program.
The TEA Report identified recommended improvements that will yield significant annual energy savings and offer a quick return on investment, which means that savings from improvements will completely pay for the initial investment in 8 years or less.
Specifically, South Lyon Community Schools has developed a plan to save money through measures including gym lighting retrofits, installing occupancy sensors, and vending machine misers to reduce unnecessary use. As a result of their energy saving efforts and commitment to improving their facilities, South Lyon Community Schools has been awarded $5,000 grant to assist with the cost of these improvements at Bartlett Elementary School.
South Lyon Community Schools Operations Manager, Shun Smith, told Energy Works that the district has developed a plan to save energy throughout the entire district by implementing several of the recommended improvements at other district buildings. For example, the gym lighting retrofit recommendation at Bartlett Elementary School has also been implemented at every facility in the district, except for South Lyon East High School. The estimated annual cost savings for gym lighting retrofitting at Bartlett Elementary School is $8,000 with a 2.6 year return on investment.
Other implemented lighting retrofits include, the choir, band, art, scene shop, clay rooms, and commons area, at South Lyon High School and at other facilities in the district. The district has also begun to phase out T-12 fluorescent light fixtures with more efficient T-8 fixtures, and has done lighting retrofits in the warehouse and bus garage.
As financing permits, the district plans to implement other recommendations listed in the report, including replacing the boilers in older buildings with condensing boilers, and light sensors near skylights, roof lights and windows to automatically turn off the light when there is enough natural lighting in the space.
Investing in energy efficiency improvements saves energy and improves the comfort and quality of learning spaces for students, teachers and staff. As part of the program, Bartlett Elementary School will additionally receive professional development for teachers, energy lesson plans and a laboratory kit for the classroom.
The district adopted an energy management policy earlier this year and will put the energy management program into effect at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year to educate the entire district about energy efficiency and conservation.
The program is already proving successful. Due to gym lighting retrofits at facilities district wide, South Lyon Community Schools believes they have managed to cut energy consumption of gym lighting in half, and the resultant savings will significantly benefit the district in the long term. Smith puts emphasis on the focus on education in order to change habits and the ways we use energy. “Energy not used is money saved,” Smith said. “If we can make our staff and students more aware of how we save energy, we will save money. By being conscious of our energy usage throughout the district, we will not take energy for granted.” Reducing carbon footprint is also important to the school. “By us all working together, we can make a huge difference. Everyone has an important part in us saving energy,” Smith said.
In addition to energy efficiency initiatives, the district is also interested in pursuing renewable energy and possibly geothermal energy in the future.
Other energy saving efforts district wide, include:
- The temperature in every facility has been lowered by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. The winter temperature is set to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the summer increased to 74.
- Copy machines are turned off every night and during weekends and vacations. Computers are set up on a network to automatically shut down at the end of each school day. Efficient and Energy Star devices are encouraged.
- A timer and temperature sensor controls when the bus engine block heaters are turned on and off to prevent them from running for unlimited amounts of time.
- Staff and teachers are encouraged to turn off lights when exiting room for longer than 5 minutes, and it is requested to close and open blinds to conserve and maximize lighting.
- A program as been implemented to make bus routes more energy efficient by requiring less stops and more direct routes.
By Kendal Kuneman
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