By Bobbi Mlynar
mlynar@emporiagazette.com
The Emporia board of education will have until the end of September to decide what, if any, changes will be made to district buildings in an effort to save energy and money.
Koby Kampschroeder of Custom Energy presented board members with binders packed with details of efficiencies recommended as part of the company's Facility Conservation and Improvement Program recommendations. Custom Energy is based in Overland Park and is a subsidiary of ConEdison.
The company conducted an extensive study of district buildings, with five objectives in mind: checking buildings' infrastructure needs, coordinating financing and construction with other projects, identifying energy and maintenance savings potentials, providing upgrades without significant affects on budgets, and verifying savings that can be achieved long-term.
The company had measured a range of energy uses and costs, Kampschroeder explained to the board. Custom Energy employees pulled figures from lighting, heating, and cooling, for example, then compared projected usages if existing equipment were replaced to produce what Kampschroeder called a "reverse utility bill" to track potential savings.
The company also obtained bids for the work, emphasizing the need to use local contractors as much as possible.
Recommendations ranged from items as small as light bulbs to as large as boilers and athletic fields.
The plan as presented recommended replacing existing fluorescent fixtures and light bulbs with ones that are more cost-efficient and provide more light; occupancy sensors that detect motion and heat, would be used to turn on and shut off lights when rooms were not in use.
Replacing faucets, toilets and valves in many of the restrooms would substantially reduce water usage, Kampschroeder said.
The studies were done individually for each building in the district.
Some of the changes would be done in conjunction with existing needs. Two large boilers at Emporia High School, which already are past their life expectancies and need to be replaced, would be replaced by four smaller boilers. Now, both of the boilers have to be run year-round to provide heat and hot water for the school, even though heat is not needed nor used in the warmer months. The district could reduce the amount of fuel used by switching off some of the boilers in the summer.
A gymnasium with a climate control system that brings in enough outside air to keep 500 people comfortable could have a carbon dioxide control that could adjust to the numbers of people in the gym, Kampschroeder said.
Custom Energy's detailed plan extended to vending machines, whose lights would go off until someone walked by, which would produce another energy saving.
Kampschroeder estimated a total savings of approximately $7 million over 20 years.
He offered several options for the project, including making a few changes annually, or doing them all at once and paying over a period of time.
Because stimulus money is available from the federal government for such projects, the district could benefit in interest costs if the board chooses to do the entire project at once. Kampschroeder estimated the work could be begun and finished during the summer of 2010.
The stimulus money would be paid in the form of tax benefits to the financial company that lends the money; the district would be able to bank the interest that would have been paid annually, draw interest and, at the end of a 20-year loan, for example, would pay a negative 2.3 percent rate of interest.
"So you actually are making a million dollars in interest over that period of time," Kampschroeder said.
Superintendent John Heim said the time for the stimulus money could be limited.
"It's kind of like the Cash for Clunkers money," Heim said. "As soon as people realize it's there, it's going to start going away."
Assistant Superintendent of Business Rob Scheib said that Kampschroeder had presented the plan to members of the capital outlay committee this week, and that they had recommended that the board adopt the project as presented.
Some members of the committee, as well as some members of the board of education, had several questions about the company's recommendation to replace the practice football field grass with turf, perhaps enlarge it to enable use as a soccer field, and adding a new track to replace the old track, which is too dangerous to be used.
The field was listed on the energy saving list because of its continual need for water, re-seeding, and re-striping.
Board member Brett Windsor said he would like to get information from EHS athletic director Britton Hart and coaches about current and future uses of the fields and track and what the benefits would be if that portion of the recommendations is approved. He and other board members questioned whether the school would need to continue to rent TRYSA Soccer fields, Welch Stadium, and other current alternatives the district now uses.
"Are we looking at it from the correct direction?" Windsor asked.
Heim said that a more detailed report on the fields will be provided at the board's next meeting.
"I just think we need to make sure we understand, so that if someone comes up to us on the street with questions, we can answer them," Windsor said.
A complete report of the extensive study and recommendations are available at the district office in the Mary Herbert Education Center, 1700 W. Seventh Ave.
The company estimated that turning the football field from grass to turf would cost $1,215,000; a new track, under a separate contract, would cost $450,000.
The total cost of the project without the track was estimated at $5,617,898; with the track, the total was $6,077,898.
In other action, the unanimously approved the first portion of the interest-based bargaining agreement with teachers. The agreement including only minor changes from the 2008-2009 contract, and did not deal with pay issues. Members of the Emporia National Education Association earlier had voted to approve the partial contract.
"This is different than we've ever done it before," Heim said, "and different than I've ever seen it done."
IBB team members will discuss monetary aspects of the contract later, he said.
The board also approved:
-- a donation of a pool timing system at EHS and school supplies from the Clint Bowyer 79 Fund.
-- a grant from the Bureau of Waste Management to place in the district nine picnic tables and 12 park benches made of recycled plastic bottles. The grant will pay one half of the total cost of the project, or $3,724.50.
-- a "Run for Something Better school awards program grant to implement an after-school running program at Lowther North and South intermediate schools. The grant totals $2,000, made in separate payments of $1,000 each.