Published: July 10, 2008 09:42 pm         

Schools aim to cut fuel costs

Staff reducing use, superintendent says

While energy costs continue to escalate, Wyoming County Schools officials are working to reduce, thus save, on those burgeoning expenditures.

They’ve reaped a savings of just over $1 million in the last four years — nearly $150,000 of that since January, according to Superintendent Frank Blackwell.

Much of that savings has come from changing staff behavior, switching from more expensive natural gas to electricity, investing in new equipment designed to save energy, utilizing computerized controls, upgrading to “green lights,” and using alternative financing, or contracting that provides energy cost savings that pay for the equipment within a specified time-frame, according to officials.

Staff throughout the county system routinely turn off lights and other equipment when not in use, Blackwell explained.

“Turning off the lights when not use, turning off the computers at night — that has resulted in big savings for us,” he said.

Facilities that use a lot of natural gas are being converted to electricity, as well as having energy-efficient windows and other energy-saving equipment installed, explained Jeff Brewer, supervisor of maintenance and grounds.

Additionally, energy controls are monitored, and can be changed, from the office of Terry Tilley, energy manager.

Also, green lights, which use 50 percent less energy, are being installed across the county as funding permits, Brewer said.

“It’s really been a combination of things,” Blackwell said.

“We’ve all learned how to use energy, we’ve forgotten how to save energy,” Blackwell said. “That’s also costing us at home. We’re all going to have to learn how to save energy at work and at home.”

Tilley constantly monitors use throughout the system, Blackwell noted.

The key is knowing where the costs are – or bench-marking each facility’s costs – in order to address energy expenses, Tilley emphasized.

Energy consumption was reduced by 30 percent in 2007 throughout the system, Tilley noted.

Recently-installed upgraded equipment and energy-saving measures at Pineville Middle School have reduced that facility’s costs by more than 66 percent over the past eight months, Tilley cited as an example.

Wyoming County also has six of the eight schools recognized statewide as Energy Stars – facilities that are recognized for saving energy. Those schools include Wyoming County East and Westside high schools, along with Berlin McKinney Elementary, Mullens Middle, Herndon Consolidated Elementary and Middle, and Pineville Middle.

“We’re extremely proud that six of our 14 schools are Energy Stars,” Blackwell said. “There are only eight in West Virginia and we’ve got six of them.

“Our goal is for all our schools to earn an Energy Star award,” he said.

The award requirements include bills for a three-year period, operating hours, square footage, indoor air quality, lighting levels, among other considerations, Tilley noted.

“It is the gold standard for comparing buildings,” Tilley said. “The performance rating is on a scale of 1 to 100. A rating of 50 indicates an average energy performance, while a score of 75 or better indicates top performance.

“The challenge was to build a better world 10 percent at a time in an effort that every school in West Virginia reduce energy use by 10 percent or more,” Tilley explained.

As part of his duties, Tilley also measures each facility’s carbon footprint, or the impact on the environment.

Wyoming County Schools have over 1 million square feet of heated and cooled space, Tilley said.

“Thirty-eight percent of all greenhouse gas is produced by buildings,” he explained. “We have avoided 6,741 metric tons of (carbon dioxide). This is the same as removing 1,210 cars or planting 172,413 trees.

“There is more to rate-of-return on these investments than just energy savings,” Tilley said of the new equipment and other upgrades. “Productivity and moral are also factors, along with better indoor air quality. These equipment upgrades increase the viable life of our schools by 30 or more years. Today’s cost for building new grade schools is around $15 million and new high schools around $30 million make these investments very reasonable.”

While energy and utility costs continue to rise, officials have thus far forestalled any real impact to the budget.

The cost of electricity jumped 11 percent in the last two weeks, resulting in an additional $50,000 for the utility next year.

Natural gas is expected to increase another 26 percent in the next year — an additional $90,000 for the county system.

Also this year, the budget line item for gasoline is at $200,000.

Officials also added $30,000 to the line item for water costs, Blackwell said.

“With all the savings, we’ve been able to stay equal thus far,” Blackwell maintains. “That’s why energy management is so critical.

“We’ve come a long way and made a lot of progress, but we’ve got more work to do.”