Ogdensburg Schools Get Energy Savings and $100G from Sempra

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Sep 29, 2000 by Dickinson, Casey J

OGDENSBURG - Sempra Energy Solutions celebrated its $100,000 energyconservation prize by donating the money to the subject of its awardwinning project. The Ogdensburg City School District (OCSD) received a $57,560 check from California-based Sempra on Sept. 18.

Sempra won the award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as part of the agency's incentive program for energy-conserving "standard performance" contracts. The company performed a complete energy overhaul of the district's five schools that is projected to save A$187,000 in energy costs per year.

Under the "standard performance" contract between Sempra and the district, the $3-million cost of the improvements is paid for by the new system's energy savings. Sempra receives payments from the district based on the guaranteed savings provided by new energy-efficient equipment.

The arrangement allows the schools to make a risk-free upgrade to newer equipment while avoiding debt or bond issues, says Michael Hagin, northeast director of sales for Sempra Energy Solutions.

"If we don't deliver," he says, "we pay the difference."

The district bid out the energy-improvement project in 1999 and Sempra began work that fall. The largest part of the project was the complete reconstruction of the schools' lighting systems, says Hagin. Sempra redesigned the lighting layout and replaced older fixtures with new reflector lights. The lighting project, he explains, involved re-thinking light placement instead of simply replacing lights. Energy-saving motion detectors shut off lights in unoccupied rooms in order to save electricity.

In addition to the lighting, Sempra replaced older kitchen equipment, dehumidifiers, and electric motors with newer, energy-efficient models throughout the district.

The cafeterias got a makeover as electric stoves and ovens were discarded in favor of newer natural-gas models, and old refrigerators went out the door.

As the project went on, says Hagin, the local utility company stopped by, to investigate the rapid drop in the district's power consumption. The company wound up contributing a new electric meter to the schools' energy project just to be sure about the source of its savings.

The district expected the project to take one year to complete, but Sempra completed the job in only nine months, says Hagin. The company worked well with the constraints of working on occupied buildings, says Stephen Sharland, supervisor of grounds and buildings for the OCSD.

Much of the work, says Sharland, was completed during evenings and other times where classrooms were unoccupied. The control systems for the schools now have been integrated into a single computer interface. Information from 400 sensors throughout the district's five schools is fed back to a central source, allowing greater control over the indoor climate.

The new system, says Sharland, replaces manual controls that range from 15 to 30 years old.

One old system Sempra decided to keep rather than scrap is the district's solarpowered pool heater. Installed in the 1970s, the heater had been broken for several years. Sempra was able to find replacement parts for the system and restore it to working order, says Hagin.

The district hasn't yet decided on a use for the unexpected windfall. Sempra often contributes incentive money, says Hagin, to schools and other nonprofit clients.