Energy Management Retrofit for Arlington Independent School District

Abstract

Like many school districts in the southwest, the Arlington Indement School District (AISD) felt a need to upgrade their schools to maximize their value for the gas and electricity being used. They felt they needed to make sure that energy was not being wasted and that any energy conservation measure implemented would provide good payback for the investment made by the school district. After conducting an extensive search to determine the best way to identify and implement energy conservation strategies, the school district selected Johnson Controls, Inc. as the company they felt could best help them achieve the goals that they had set. AISD also requested help in identifying the best way for the school district to finance the measures taken and for the tracking of the measures to make sure the desired energy conservation goals were met. Finally, the school district requested, a guarantee that savings goal be attained by an agreement that the contractor pay for any "shortfall" in savings that might occur. The contractor was initially assigned the ten schools which seemed to be the most wasteful within the school district. With their personnel, loads and energy users within the schools were identified and quantified. From this information, areas where energy was being wasted were identified and ways of eliminating waste were examined. If a reasonable payback and a means to measure the payback were identified, then it was included in the list of measures to be presented for consideration; if payback was high, or could not be effectively measured, then that conservation measure was discarded. After all energy conservation measure ideas were gathered, they were presented to the school board with a suggested method of payment, so the best return on investment for the district could be achieved. Also, a written guarantee was made available, so the school district could feel certain that in whatever conservation measures selected, desired results would be achieved. During the construction phase, special attention was given to ensure classes would be disrupted as little as possible and the work would be completed on schedule. After construction, the contractor monitored savings results and has shown that this project, which represented an investment of well over a million dollars, will provide payback on time, or in advance, of the original estimate.