School District’s energy savings team pays off

The Marion County School District's energy team has saved taxpayers on average nearly $2.7 million annually since 2005, according to a new report.

The report, released last week, noted the entire district — 51 schools and dozens of district buildings — used 11 million fewer kilowatt hours in 2012 than it did in 2005.

School Board members said 16.2 percent electric savings is remarkable, especially since the district has added 1 million square feet of space — classroom wings and new schools — during the same period.

"To date, we have saved $18.6 million that we have been able to put back into the classroom," said Tommy Crosby, executive director of support services.

Though the district pays 47 percent more for utilities than it did in 2005, the overall utility cost per square foot has risen by only 3.2 percent during the same period. Marion paid 98 cents per square foot in 2012, while the state average for school districts was $1.21.

In 2012, the district used 59 million kilowatt hours of electricity. That was down from 61.6 million in 2011 and 70.4 million in 2005.

Since December 2005, the district's per-square-foot energy usage — which includes electricity, natural gas and other sources — has declined by 34.8 percent, according the report.

The energy management team was created in 2005 by the district to control energy costs. Officials announced the team has saved taxpayers $221,428 per month.

The program kicked off with a concerted effort to shut down computers overnight and flip off lights to cut electric costs. Every year since, the management team has inspected area schools looking for ways to implement more cost-saving measures.

Since the energy management team was created, electricity rates have risen by 45 percent. During the same period, metered water and sewer rates have increased by 37 percent.

Despite those rising unit costs, overall utility bills — including water and sewer — are still falling. The district spent $7.9 million dollars on utilities in 2012 — about $200,000 less than in 2011 and $1.24 million less than in 2010.

The Energy Use Index (EUI) — the kilowatt BTU per-square-foot usage for electricity, heating oil, natural gas and propane combined — hit an all-time low of 34.3 per square foot in 2012, down from 52.6 in 2005.

The 2012 school leader in electric savings was Maplewood Elementary, which had a savings of 24.9 percent or $22,000 between 2011 and 2012. The district used federal stimulus dollars to replace fluorescent light fixtures at Maplewood with LED fixtures.

Officials said though impressive, the LED lights are cost prohibitive to install at other schools, unless the district can get more grants. Read the full story at www.hmhid.com web.