Waibel Energy Systems, Dayton Power & Light (DP&L) and Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council (EPC)’s energy savings program “On Board” resulted in $1.36 million in savings on energy spending over the last 12 months for participating local school districts. This program is unique because the savings were gained without any of the school districts making capital improvements or installing new equipment.
Thirty-two local school districts participated in the On Board program. In addition to energy savings, school districts received rebate checks from DP&L. $307,00 in rebates were presented at a previous event at Aileron. The amount of each rebate varied depending on the school district size and ultimate savings; in total DP&L presented $686,577 in rebates to this latest group.
Vandalia-Butler pilot program
Waibel piloted the program with Vandalia-Butler schools in 2013 to demonstrate that the program could deliver real savings. The program helped to save the district $375,000 per year and earned the district $78,000 in rebates from DP&L.
Brad Neavin, Vandalia-Butler superintendent noted, “It has been great to be a part of an effort like this that has provided a real benefit to other local districts. Our savings have been significant and will provide funds that we can divert to much needed classroom resources.”
How the program works
The first phase of the program identified school districts that could benefit from On Board. Of the qualifying 78 districts, 32 signed up for Energy Service Agreements (ESA) with Waibel. Participating districts were guaranteed to save the full cost of the agreement in reduced energy spending.
Waibel benchmarked the energy usage of over 300 buildings in those districts over a series of a few months.
In the second phase, school districts implemented building control energy conservation measures recommended by Waibel to reduce energy consumption without adversely affecting comfort in the buildings. Some of these measures included:
-
Programming boilers and their pumps correctly; particularly when buildings were not in use and outdoor air temperatures are mild.
-
Creating Air Handling Unit (AHU) zones with their own schedule which helped reduce the effective heating or cooling of an area based on occupancy;
-
Implementing programming for AHUs that helped reduce fan speed more often – a significant percentage of energy in HVAC equipment
-
Leveraging real time energy meters to improve load shedding during nights, weekends, holidays, and snow days.
Results
On average, districts realized 233% of the cost of the program in savings. Heapy Engineering audited these results.
“This program provides a great way for school districts to save money,” noted Dave Crosley, General Manager of Waibel Energy. “Savings opportunities like this are even more critical today as taxpayers demand that school districts curb costs.”
Districts receiving rebates at the Aileron event were Dayton, Beavercreek, Miamisburg, Franklin Monroe, Maysville, Mechanicsburg, Tecumseh, Fort Loramie, New Lebanon, Dayton Christian, Montgomery County BDDS, and Montgomery County ESC.
