School reduces energy costs by 73%
Happy Valley Elementary
Overview
Installation Date: August 2015-July 2017
Building Size: 10,400 ft2
Existing Equipment: T8 fluorescent lighting, no lighting controls, end of life water heater, HVAC units and roof
Upgrades: Replace lighting fixtures with LED, add lighting controls, including dimming and daylighting harvesting, install programmable thermostats, plug load controls and a tankless water heater, new high-efficiency heat pumps, a spray foam cool roof and a 12.4 kW ground-mounted solar system
Results:
- 28,708 annual kWh savings
- 46% annual kWh offset
- $2,817 first year savings
- $5,827 second year savings
Challenge
As a small single school district, Happy Valley’s administrative staff’s responsibilities include facilities management. Although Proposition 39 funding was allocated to them by the California Energy Commission they were unsure how to apply for and best maximize their funding.
The fluorescent lighting in the classrooms needed constant maintenance and many of their critical systems such as their roof and heating units were reaching the end of their useful life.
Solution
By prioritizing the needed upgrades and bundling measures with high savings to investment ratio with longer payback measures, such as the solar, the school was able to utilize all 5 years of funding. A four-year plan was established that would allow the school to immediately implement measures that would generate significant savings that they could then use to buy down the measure with the lowest savings to investment ratio, the roof.
The school can now operate maintenance free for almost 10 years while saving over $5,000 per year in energy.