The Bethlehem Central School District is being conservative.
Politics aside, district officials listened to a presentation at the Wednesday, Nov. 19, Board of education meeting on how the schools are conserving energy and saving money through new energy-saving initiatives.
The presentation detailed the steps being taken for districtwide energy efficiency. It included the results of the building project and a new energy management Web site, which helps share information and promotes `responsible practices.` It also detailed plans to join a municipal purchasing consortium that would lock in low-cost fuel prices purchased in bulk by the group of participants.
According to Superintendent Michael Tebanno, the initiatives not only make financial sense, but the district is also doing its part to ensure the future of it students.
`With school budgets being so tight and the planet in peril, it makes sense that energy efficiency and associated savings are an area where we would focus,` Tebbano said. `It is also important that we serve as role models for our children in these areas. I see these efforts as part of the beginning of a new era of energy and environmental consciousness at BC.`
At the board meeting, district energy manager and science teacher Paul O’Reilly said the district saved more than a quarter of a million dollars because of improved heating systems in the 2007-08 school year. The new heating systems were installed as part of the district’s building project.
`The new heating systems and energy efficiency measures at the buildings referenced were part of the building project, approved by voters in 2003,` said Matt Leon. `The statistics are a good indication of the cost avoidances we are seeing as a result of the new systems in place at most of the [district] buildings.`
The savings, O’Reilly said, which totaled $271,126, are measured as `cost avoidance,` meaning the additional amount that the district would have spent if no renovations had taken place.
`In terms of energy, the benefits of the new heating systems and renovated buildings are pretty clear,` O’Reilly said. `The district is using less energy, the buildings are better at retaining the heat and it is costing taxpayers less.`
The updated heating systems, along with more energy efficient buildings, mean the district can better control the temperature and better control the areas where the heating system is in use, O’Reilly told board of education members. As an example he cited that district schools used 25 percent less energy in January 2008 compared with the prior January, even though both months had the same average daily mean temperature.
Gregg Nolte, director of operations and maintenance for the district, said the upgraded system brings a new level of control to the district.
`We installed a new energy-management control system, which cost $1.9 million,` Nolte said. `We can control different zones of the schools and it’s all run by computers where we can check 7,900 different points.
`This gives us much more control,` he said.
Nolte said the district has been slowly implementing the new system over the past four years and that the Elsmere and Slingerlands schools are expected to be included as soon as the school finishes up its $93 million bond for capital construction.
`We are close to having it all complete,` said Nolte.
Nolte said he sees three main areas in which to save energy: replacing older equipment, such as motors, boilers and lighting, with newer and more energy efficient equipment; buying cheaper energy, such as the entering the consortium; and to simply use less energy.
`That’s part of our conservation efforts,` Nolte said. `We’re making great strides on working on all types of energy conservations measures. If we can avoid spending, all the better because we’re in some tough, tough times right now.`
District officials also announced the launching of a new `energy management` portion on its Web site, http://bcsd.k12.ny.us/energymanagement/. The new Web page features information about district initiatives designed to reduce energy consumption and tips on environmental conservation; links to Web sites devoted to energy efficiency and `green` practices; and allows residents to contact the district’s energy manager with questions and suggestions.
It also features energy management news and initiatives like the recycling efforts in the schools.
The Board of Education voted unanimously to join an energy-purchasing consortium coordinated by the Onondaga`Cortland-Madison BOCES.
By participating in the consortium, the district will be able to lock-in competitive energy costs for the long-term, which Tebanno said would help plan for energy costs. By being a member of the consortium the district will undergo a thorough and independent review of its energy costs for recent years.
By doing so, Tebbano said, it ensures that the participating districts spend only what it must on energy.“