FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - The North Schuylkill School District's decision to become more energy efficient is paying off with hundreds of thousands of dollars saved in a little more than three years.
The school district partnered with Cenergistic Inc., an energy conservation company, in 2011 to help reduce its energy consumption.
"Since the inception of the project, we've saved $345,000 in 37 months," said district Superintendent Andrew D. Smarkanic, who announced the savings during the March 19 Committee of the Whole meeting, which immediately precedes the regular monthly school board meeting.
At the committee meeting, Cenergistic Regional President Ross Kelly presented an Environmental Excellence Award plaque and a faux check indicating the energy savings to Smarkanic. The award recognizes clients for their conservation program's success in environmental and financial savings.
In August 2012, the school district was presented with the Award for Energy Stewardship by the company. The honor is an environmentally focused award to recognize the impact the school district is having on natural resources. Financial savings are not included in this award. The award recognizes the support and cooperation of administration, faculty and staff.
The district had almost $180,000 in energy savings at the August 2012 meeting. In the past 19 months, the district saved an additional $165,000 in energy costs.
The program through Cenergistic assists school districts, higher education, large churches and others to save energy without purchasing new equipment, by closely monitoring usage and changing human traits and habits, such as turning lights off in a room and shutting down computers when they will not be in use over a period of time.
The company's energy management process trains client personnel to implement behavioral and organizational changes that substantially reduce energy consumption without having to buy new equipment. The program is funded solely and rapidly by the savings it generates, allowing clients to redirect saved energy dollars to other priorities.
A primary benefit of the Cenergistic program is that all costs come out of the existing utility budget, with savings projected to more than pay for the program, as has been done at North Schuylkill.
The conservation program examines all areas of energy use. The company's conservation experts work closely with the school district's energy specialist, Kelly Stone. They train him to analyze all energy use throughout the district's systems to ensure that energy is used as efficiently as possible following Cenergistic's energy management plan.
Smarkanic said in a press release that the program delivers an environmental benefit from a reduced carbon footprints. Energy not used prevents the emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. According to EPA/EGrid figures, the school district in the first 37 months of the program saved 17,369 MMBTU (1 million British Thermal Unit), the equivalent of 445 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions being prevented, 93 cars removed from the road or 11,402 pine trees grown for 10 years.
Stone tracks energy consumption - electricity, water, sewer, natural gas and fuel oil - using energy accounting software. He compares current energy use to a baseline period and calculates the amount of energy that would have been used had conservation and management practices not been implemented. By tracking consumption and analyzing energy use, he can quickly identify and correct areas that need immediate attention.