Rockville Centre schools move toward energy efficiency
Upgrades can save the district money
The Rockville Centre Board of Education has its eye on the district’s infrastructure, and it is looking into two projects that officials say will increase energy efficiency and realize significant savings.
The board authorized Ameresco, an independent energy solutions company, to conduct a comprehensive energy performance audit of the district’s buildings. From that audit, Ameresco developed plans to upgrade Rockville Centre’s facilities, and outlined its plan at a recent school board meeting. The project would include improving interior lighting systems, controls and fixtures, building controls, exterior lighting and building management systems. The plan also calls for reducing building envelope infiltration, insulating pipes and tanks, installing premium efficiency boiler motors, replacing steam traps and boiler controls, kitchen exhaust hood controls and hot water valves, and more efficient management of the computer electrical load throughout the district.
One 5,000-watt photovoltaic solar panel would be installed on the roof of South Side High School. Interactive Web capabilities would be made available for classroom use, enabling students to view the system’s contribution to the district’s energy requirements on a real-time basis.
Ameresco estimates that these measures would save the district almost $228,000 a year. The cost of the upgrades is estimated at $3.3 million, but the savings they generate would be used to pay Ameresco and there would be no impact to the school district’s budget for the new equipment or the labor to install it. After review and approval by the State Education Department, administrators hope to sign the contract next fall.
The board also gave the go-ahead for National Grid to install new gas lines to its buildings. The district is planning to request proposals from energy service companies to provide gas to all of its buildings so it can heat them with either natural gas or oil— whichever is cheaper. “The savings potential is enormous,” said school superintendent Dr. William Johnson.
