Energy Efficiency Solutions for Schools and Universities

Water Conservation

Water and sewer expenses have increasingly become a significant operating expense for most schools and universities, and every indication is that it will only get more expensive in the years ahead.

This makes water efficiency solutions critical elements in keeping your operating costs under control.

But it’s not just about low-flow faucets and shutting off the sprinklers. To truly optimize your water spending, you need to ensure that only water is flowing through your meter, so you are actually using the water you’re paying for.

♦  Cooling towers account for approximately 30% of the total water usage by most education buildings. Keeping them running efficiently is critical to keeping your water costs in check.

♦  According to the American Water Works Association (AWWA), every day that a toilet leak goes undetected can result in as much as 300 gallons of water lost – per DAY.  And that’s just for a single leaking toilet; multiply that by dozens of toilets in a school building, and the amount of money being lost adds up rapidly.

Lighting

For most education buildings, lighting is a significant component of their electricity costs.

Although it can be a challenge to specifically pinpoint the exact monetary value of how efficient lighting impacts both faculty and student productivity, there is little doubt – and plenty of evidence – that both are more productive if they are in a better-lit environment that has less glare, better color rendering and no annoying ‘hums’ or ‘flickers’.

A considerable amount of electricity is produced by local power plants to power all those inefficient lights currently in operation in your school building(s), which causes tons of pollution to be pumped into the atmosphere.  That contributes to global warming, acid rain, and many other environmental problems.  But by consuming less electricity through efficient lighting, your school can help reduce harmful emissions.

Retrofit solutions for lighting commonly involve upgrading incandescent and fluorescent fixtures to more advanced, lower maintenance LED’s.  But additional solutions can include lighting controls, motion sensors, and adjustments to light color and intensity.

HVAC

A school building’s HVAC system has power requirements that make up a large amount of the building’s energy consumption.  And the key to HVAC optimization starts with the operation of the chillers and chilled water pumps.

♦  Lower Electricity and Maintenance Costs:   Advanced chiller optimization is commonly recognized as a proven and reliable way for school buildings and facilities to reduce the amount of money being paid to run and operate those HVAC and refrigeration systems.

Most existing HVAC systems waste money cooling a school building (as much as one out of every three dollars spent). Chiller optimization can remove that inefficiency, increasing system capacity and delivering long-term energy savings.

Onsite’s school and university clients typically see electric savings from 10% to 40%, and wear and tear on chiller equipment – motors, pumps, compressors, fans – are dramatically reduced, extending their lifespan.

♦  Improved Occupant Comfort:  Schools are under constant pressure to keep energy costs low while still delivering high occupant comfort.

Advanced chiller optimization allows schools to regulate and maintain the right temperature with incredible precision. In some cases, Onsite’s education clients have reported as high as a 90% reduction in faculty and student comfort complaints.

♦  Environmental Sustainability:  Advanced chiller optimization has been a sensible and proven path to helping schools achieve their environmental objectives – not just through reductions in energy consumption, but with the capacity to effectively measure and track energy consumption trends and proactively anticipated potential demand requirements.

Clean Indoor Air

We are now living in a COVID world.  It has impacted every facet of our lives:  How we work, shop, learn and live have all been altered in substantial – and likely permanent – ways.

Every school and university now must reliably provide pathogen control and breathable clean air to their indoor spaces.

Onsite can help eliminate the guesswork operating your school or university in today’s new COVID reality through our safe, healthy and affordable indoor air solutions:

♦  Schools that are free of airborne allergens, bacteria, viruses, and VOCs contribute to improved faculty and student performance, productivity, and satisfaction.

♦   Many other ‘clean air’ solutions typically use ozone to help purify the air, which can lead to harmful byproduct discharge.  But none of Onsite’s clean-air solutions use ozone to sanitize the air, making them safe and effective for use in all school building types and applications.

Benchmarking

Chances are, you are keenly familiar with companies measuring the performance of their products and services by comparing them with what their competitors are doing.

That kind of analysis has long been recognized as a smart process by companies of all sizes.

Energy benchmarking plays a similarly and equally important role for schools and universities, because it helps ensure your building’s energy performance is on par with other school buildings and facilities in the area.

Additional benefits of benchmarking include:

♦  Helps lower your costs by giving you a look at where your school is spending energy so you can then pinpoint the areas that can both help reduce energy waste and deliver immediate savings.

♦  Helps improve your balance sheet because, let’s face it, if you’re paying less for energy they you’re putting more money back into other more pressing initatives.

♦  Benchmarking is an excellent way to use gathered data to develop or improve a better energy management program, improve operational performance, or acquire financing for other projects.

Energy Storage

Energy storage has come to the attention of schools and universities across the country both for the cost savings it delivers and the range of services and benefits it can provide.

♦  Generally, energy storage supports the largest demand-charge reductions at school buildings that have high peak loads relative to average usage.  When paired with on-site generation systems, a good energy storage solution can be very cost-effective in helping properly manage energy demands during those peak times without paying higher demand costs.

♦  Like emergency power, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can provide backup power during grid outages.  However, whereas generators often take a few minutes to begin backup, UPSs respond almost instantaneously.  Thus, they tend to be used in schools because they ensure not even a momentary loss of electricity.

The key is to identify where these opportunities exist in your school building(s), and Onsite Utility Services Capital can help you do this better than anyone.

Fractional Energy Management

Schools and universities have different energy management needs that can vary with geography, weather patterns and even local utility regulations.

And with the rapid changes occurring in the energy-efficiency marketplace, it’s becoming even more critical to ensure your school is achieving the greatest level of energy savings available.

That requires the skill and expertise of an experienced Energy Manager – someone who can help you successfully navigate the every-changing energy landscape and knows the ins-and-outs of how to properly identify the right solutions for the right situations. 

A full-time staff energy manager or engineer is valuable – but it can also be expensive. However, through Onsite’s Fractional Energy Management program, you can get the knowledge and skills of a seasoned Energy Manager – but without the added cost of hiring one.

Outsourced energy management has revolutionized the way schools and businesses across the country handle their utility, energy efficiency and cost-saving initiatives.  The Onsite Fractional Energy Management program delivers peace of mind by knowing you have the right energy expert to keep your school on the right path to maximizing both energy savings and long-term energy cost management.