School system conducts energy audits to offset anticipated rate hikes

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Prince George’s County is conducting energy audits at all public school facilities in the wake of plans by two large electricity providers to implement drastic rate hikes.

Larry Pauling, director of Maintenance and Facilities, said the rate increases announced by BG&E and PEPCO mean the system will have to tighten its belt.

PEPCO plans a 38.5 percent increase, while BG&E is planning a 72 percent rate increase.

‘‘It’s just the right thing to do,” Pauling said of the energy audits.

The school system has enlisted PEPCO and Johnson Management Controls, Inc. to find out what measures will save the most energy.

Although the audit is only half complete, Pauling says the schools have already learned they can save $40 million over 15 years by replacing old light fixtures with energy-saving bulbs, removing old boilers and chillers in favor of more efficient models and going to computerized climate control systems.

The cost of the replacement items has not been determined. Savings can be used to make more improvements, Pauling said.

‘‘We can do painting, we can do flooring and then we can do things like window improvements,” Pauling said. ‘‘It’s an outstanding opportunity to make facility improvements and save energy.”

School Board member Robert Duncan of Laurel said the utility companies will install new equipment and then be paid with the savings the school system will earn as a result of their work.

‘‘It’s basically a lease-purchase agreement,” Duncan said.

This energy audit also coincides with the county government’s three-year plan to make major improvements to aging schools at a cost of $128 million. County Executive Jack B. Johnson introduced the plan in October.

Pauling explained that any school on the list for renovations that needs energy-saving equipment, such as boilers or air conditioning systems, would have those systems replaced at the county’s expense, not the school system’s.

‘‘We’d let them execute that replacement so we could start saving [on energy costs] right away,” Pauling said. ‘‘Probably 30 percent of the schools on that list would be eligible.”

Barbara Nichols, spokeswoman for PEPCO Energy Services, said her organization will assess the state of energy use in county schools once the audit was complete.

‘‘But like most school systems, there’s a need to improve the energy infrastructure; there are aging buildings and aging equipment,” Nichols said. ‘‘There’s good and there’s bad.”

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.