CV Looking For Energy Savings

As the campus continues to age, district officials are thinking about upgrading the buildings to find elusive energy savings.

The school board invited an energy engineer to in order to learn details about how energy saving audits work and what problems might surface.

John Mier of Mier Energy Engineer said school districts have to be careful that savings be calculated properly and not be less than the cost of the long-term loans to make the upgrades. He pointed to some audits that might overstate the energy savings depending or overprice the construction costs.

“If you go into an energy savings contract it’s really important that you drive the bus,” Mier said.

The district could hire an energy engineer, independent engineer or energy savings company to conduct the initial audits. The process after that can be cumbersome if a school district doesn’t do its homework.

Chartiers Valley Superintendent Brian White Jr. said that’s why they’re making sure they take the appropriate steps to decide what, if any, upgrades that make.

“Our HVAC system is quite old and we wanted to explore to see if it’s worth the savings or not,” White said. “It may not be. We’re being very cautious about it.”

He pointed to the boilers that are 40 years old and other equipment that is still usable but inefficient. White said this is all part of the district’s strategic plan.

“We’re information gathering at this point,” he said. “We’re trying to decide what makes sense, what’s feasible and what needs to be repaired. Something things are reliable, but not efficient.”

Initial energy audits usually takes a few weeks, while the more diagnostic audit that follows could take months. Someone like Mier would offer an independent voice from the energy savings company and could be hired to do the initial audits.

“We’d prefer to take our time and do it right,” White said.

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