New label to help schools learn lessons of efficiency

Building Operating Management, Sep 2000 by Rospond, Kathryn M

Good Grades for Benchmarking

So far, the results have been positive. At Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), for instance, the energy-management team had developed plans for future system upgrades but needed to conduct benchmarking first to justify their plans. "The city of Milwaukee is impressed that we've gotten awards through this effort and saved energy," says Joseph Gorecki, a mechanical engineer wth MPS. "That should help when we need to raise funding for future efforts."

Benchmarking also opened the eyes of some energy managers. "In general, we're ahead of the curve on energy conservation," says Joe Cochran Jr., energy/utility inspector for San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), which submitted data for 122 of the 150 schools that qualified for Labels this year. "Many of our schools are the exact same layout, and while one scored 100, one scored below 75. It may turn out that the air-conditioning is running all day at that school and the lights are on all night, but now we can go back and look at the historical data and find the red flags."

In the process, EPA confirmed the advice it has been giving to EnERGY STAR Buildings Partners. "When you look at the schools that scored well, you can see that they all have a combination of things in common: good lighting and lighting controls, variable-speed drives and control-management technology, and a management structure in place that conducts energy audits and upgrades," Lupinacci says. "It just goes to show that the guidelines EPA has been recommending and the total building approach promoted through the ENERGY STAR Buildings program are correct and they do work."

As students and teachers return for the new fall term, many of the schools that earned Labels will be scheduling dedication ceremonies and hanging the bronze plaques presented to them by EPA. For some of the school districts, these ceremonies will be a chance to promote their success publicly to the local community

"Our district is very proud of its Label," says William Baal, technology resource manager for Honeywell International, which oversees the performance contract for New Haven Public Schools. "New Haven is a relatively poor city that requires federal and state funding, so it's important to let taxpayers know their money is being used well to save energy."

Educational Opportunity

For other districts, like San Diego's, the big payoff is in educating the children and making them recognize the benefits of saving energy SDUSD's Cochran hopes that at schools that did not receive a Label, students and teachers will be more conscious of their actions and be more proactive about energy conservation. "We hope that, if they see the lights on in a classroom and no one there, they'll turn the lights off," Cochran says. "That way, the Label becomes an educational tool."

And in some cases, the result was motivation to continually improve operations. "Just because a school doesn't get up to Label-level doesn't mean we can't upgrade and try to improve it," says Russ LaBarbara, a Johnson Controls senior performance assurance specialist who oversees performance for West Virginia's Marion County Schools. "If I see an opportunity where a school can improve its score, then I'll make a recommendation to the school administrators for additional upgrades."