THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM IS “GOING GREEN”!
After a year of research and back-ground work, Cumberland County Schools is on the verge of launching a massive energy conservation program that will impact every school in the system. When the City of Crossville released the “Report of the Crossville Energy and Sustainability Initiative”, in April 2008, the Cumberland County School System was already 8 months into their efforts to become a leader in the community toward environmental stewardship and energy conservation.
As an active participant in the CESI Workshops, the Director of Schools for Cumberland County, Aarona VanWinkle was already looking at ways to incorporate the findings of the Study into a parallel plan for the Cumberland County School System.
In February of 2008, the Cumberland County School System initiated a competitive process to identify an “energy partner” – or Energy Services Company (ESCO), who could work with the school system to investigate the feasibility of a “self-funding” energy conservation project. The selected ESCO would have to handle all engineering, design, project management for implementation, on-going reporting to verify energy savings, and most importantly, guarantee that the savings would occur – in other words write a check to the school system if the projected savings do not occur.
The preliminary audit indicated that the Cumberland County School System can be expected (and guaranteed) to save more than $475,000 in energy costs annually while improving students’ learning environment with improved lighting, upgraded heating and air conditioning systems and state of the art control systems. With an annual utility budget exceeding $ 1.9 million dollars, this type of savings is greatly needed. Barring any unforeseen slow downs, the entire project should be completed by early 2010, with the savings beginning to occur as soon as Spring of 2009.
The company who emerged from the highly competitive process as the “energy partner” for the Cumberland County School System is Trane.
On December 2008, Trane began the Investment Grade Energy Audit necessary to finalize the complete energy conservation project. They have already conducted a Preliminary Energy Audit of the school system.
In addition to addressing high energy costs and needed infrastructure upgrades in the school buildings, several of the recommendations from the CESI Report, involving Education and Outreach will be implemented in the school system, directly with the students.
Of particular interest to students like the ones in Tamara Tollett’s M.E.A.N. Green Team, the project will also result in an annual carbon dioxide reduction of 630,350 pounds, an annual sulfur dioxide reduction of 8,274 pounds and an annual notorious oxide reduction of 2,782 pounds. These statistics are equivalent to saving 63 trees, taking 54 cars off the road and saving 2,782 gallons of gas annually.
One of the primary goals of the Cumberland County School Board is to increase student achievement. Students like the ones above identify with the fact that their educational performance can be enhanced by an upgraded learning environment. In a study conducted by the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, “appropriate light levels improve test scores, reduce off-task behavior and play a significant role in student achievement.” In another study, reported by Educational Facility Planner Report, there was a direct correlation demonstrated between classroom environmental conditions and student performance - “Student performance increases when ventilation rates are set at the correct levels, which minimizes carbon dioxide levels in the classroom.”
Additionally, from a student perspective, a project like this can produce excess savings which can be used to purchase books, computers or even athletic equipment.
Based on all of the research we conducted, we feel this project is the right thing to do for our school system, our tax payers and the environment. The fact that this project is a guaranteed energy savings program and we do not need any additional funds from County Commission is a major selling point. The State Comptroller’s Office has informed CCS, that all we really need form our local government is ‘their blessing’ in acquiring the project money since we are not requesting any ‘additional’ funding. We will actually be using the money from our existing utility budget to fund the entire project. It will be a win-win for every one involved – especially the students of Cumberland County.
