In an effort to cut spending and conserve natural resources, the BOCES F. Donald Myers Education Center in Saratoga Springs is “going green.”
In conjunction with a larger upgrade project at both Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES campuses, a new parking structure with solar panels has been installed at the local education center on Henning Road. The panels will provide 50-kilowatts-per-hour of electricity that will be returned back to the grid.
“We’re doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint and conserve electricity,” said Director of Facilities Dave Waters.
The upgrades to both facilities began over the summer, with construction of the parking structure nearly finished.
All boilers at each WSWHE BOCES campus have been replaced with more efficient Energy Star models and new chillers are being installed for all air conditioning needs. In addition, nearly all of the lights at the Southern Adirondack Center have been replaced with more efficient bulbs and eventually the thousands of lights at the F. Donald Myers Education Center will be replaced, as well. Censors will also be installed so the lights are not on when rooms are unoccupied.
Waters estimates the upgrades will save the two facilities about $230,000 in a decade, with $8,700 of that money coming from the installed solar panels. The panels were paid for through a grant sponsored by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority’s Electric Incentive Program called “Power for Schools.”
`We are pleased to be going green in such a visual way,` said Tim Place, assistant superintendent of administrative services. `The grants money has enabled us to accomplish energy efficiency in a big way. It not only saves our school districts and tax payers money, but it also is great for the environment. It’s a win-win.`
The construction portion of the $135,000 solar panel project is now complete, and installation should be finished by the first of the year to help save electricity in the second semester of the school year. Upgrades on both WSWHE BOCES campuses will continue into July.
“We have to stay competitive with programs and the only way to do that is to get costs down as low as we can get them,” said Waters
In the future, WSWHE BOCES is hoping to do more with solar energy to power its facilities. They are waiting to see how well the current panels work before investing more in the technology.
“Right now, without the incentive money to install them the payback is too long,” said Waters.
But the panels are helping students in Career in Technical Education trade classes with their lessons. Soon students will get some hands-on training, while monitoring from the from a computer system how much power is generated by the panels, and much power is being saved. Waters said the students are excited.
“It’s a great project for reducing energy in the buildings and that’s our biggest cost, so if we can whittle away at that, we will be better budget wise,” he said.