Facility Masters

Improving energy efficiency is one of the easiest ways to find achieve cost savings.  There are many no-cost initiatives that can be implemented by your in-house team to start saving immediately, as well as some projects that do require capital investment but deliver more money back to your budget in savings.  Our peer Lisa Randall, Energy Conservation Program Coordinator at Santa Fe Public Schools,  shared the following best practices that have helped her district achieve significant savings on our listserv.

Energy Management and Efficiency Best Practices from Lisa Randall of Santa Fe Public Schools:

We began our own internal energy conservation program 18 months ago.  I was hired as the Energy Conservation Program Coordinator in the fall of 2010 as a 12 month employee.  We specified in the job description that an educator was preferred, though a strong background in facilities was also encouraged.  I would argue both are pretty darned essential.  Every program is structures differently, but this is what we’ve done.

These are all free in terms of capital investment, and very time consuming in terms of your day:

• Email communication of “sleep mode” or power saving expectations to staff and students; this is for daily, weekend, and vacation periods. (It is important you reach EVERYONE in the organization.)
• A quarterly newsletter (by me) to inform, inspire, and communicate around issues of conservation and sustainability
• Frequent site walk-throughs after these communications, unplugging and turning off etc., and leaving little notes for staff
• Community partnerships that help us promote our conservation initiatives

Additional initiatives:

• Retrofit lighting (our utility co, PNM, has a retrofit/rebate program, and we have received more than $100,000 back in rebates from our retrofits) – call them, and ask what they have for programming.
• Our gas utility, NM Gas Co, also used us in a pilot reduction of use program, and helped us tremendously.
• Benchmarking and tracking use – this is essential, and we use Utility Direct through SchoolDude.
• We changed out all T12 florescent light tubes to high efficiency T8s.
• All high bay sodium and metal halides are switched out to T5s for large areas like gyms and cafeterias, or 34 w LEDs for single high lights.
• All parking lot lights are LED, 34 w, many on motion sensors running at 20% until motion is detected.  Some are on solar panels built into the light, and all are on timers if not sensored.
• Door lights at exteriors are light sensored so they come on and go off when actually needed.
• Occupancy/motion sensors in almost all spaces in the schools and office complexes – this takes some real give and take as you figure out placement and timing, and some spaces don’t accommodate a sensor.  Most do however.  People complain, but they do get used to them if they are placed correctly and timed well.
• Couple your efforts with recycling and connections to the planet and the children’s future.  This is about saving money, AND it’s about a future for our kids.
• Get your maintenance staff on board, and hold them accountable to report and fix leaks, energy waste, and other issues they see in their day to day tasks.
• Although you will have a little too much participation at times, ask your staff to be your energy wasting eyes and ears.  Even if only 25% of things reported pan out, that’s 25% more than you knew before.
• PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE!!!!!!!  It is so under-rated, and so important.  Imagine how much harder your equipment is working to force air through clogged filters, or because of loose belts.
• We have 60% of our buildings on automated controls through Delta, and a few Trane, though Trane is not complete yet.  Digital controls are expensive, but the remote monitoring and HVAC control allows you to set buildings to unoccupied when they are unoccupied, and not heat and cool unnecessarily.  We cannot depend on our site people to comply with our thermostat setting requests, and we are heating and cooling spaces for no reason in our non-Delta controlled schools.  We are working towards 100% digitally controlled equipment and thermostats.
• .5 gal per minute aerators on your hand washing sinks
• We spend approx 500,000 a year on natural gas, 750,000 on water, and 1.5 million on electricity, for 2.3 million square feet.  Those are not all of our costs, but you see water is our 2^nd most expensive utility
• The first 12 months of the program, we reduced electric by 8.2% and gas by 12%.  So far this year we’ve captured another 7% in gas, and another 4% in electricity.  We’re also using 6% less water.
• This is with a full-time person designated to do this work (me), a cooperative and supportive facilities/operations leadership  team, a supportive superintendent, and a capital budget for lighting and HVAC retrofits and upgrades.

This is not an exhaustive list.  We have lots more to do, and we would not have realized a quarter of our savings without a designated person in my position, and dollars to invest.  You can save a tremendous amount with just the designated person, and focusing on behavior.  But the dollars help enormously!!

Lisa Randall – Energy Conservation Program Coordinator - Santa Fe Public Schools, NM

Construction projects are an important part of the ongoing upgrade and expansion of your educational facilities to better fulfill the mission of student education.  But construction projects represent a significant investment of both time and money, so they should be monitored and managed carefully to ensure that the projects are completed on time and on schedule, as well as completed to your standards of quality.

One of our peers on the Listserv, Steve Wittig from Bob Jones University in South Carolina, shared these excellent and proven tips for managing construction projects to achieve both savings and excellent results:

“The first and easiest way to save money on any construction project is to eliminate double taxing and overhead costs on material for the projects. We purchase the materials from a BOM Quote (Bill of Materials) given to us by the contractor. By doing this, we eliminate the double sales tax issue, the profit margin addition to the material, and the overhead added to the materials. This eliminates between 20-26% right off of the top for the materials in most jobs (we have quoted them both ways). We let the contractors price the materials since they have the material source accounts with the best price structure. We use their quote numbers when ordering so the prices stay the same, and we check in the material and have it placed in pre-designated spots for the projects. We set up accounts with the companies that we are purchasing the materials from for the projects. This method saves thousands and allows us to do some projects that would be cost prohibitive otherwise.”

“The second measure is the use of a thorough scope of work. The money we spent in the past was on change orders and clean up once the contractor left the job. The one sentence we use in the scope of work that ensures a completed job is: ‘The contractor will include in this bid the necessary material to ensure that the finished project work will perform as designed and requested.’ This sentence covers the unseen contingencies that make my projects go over budget. A word of caution here though – sometimes the cost of a project goes up because of this sentence. We have some of our contractors use a not to exceed price that will cover issues if they are encountered, and if the job goes smoother, the extra in the bid comes off at the end of the project. The one paragraph method is for the form, but the multi page scope of work is attached and signed by both parties. This scope is developed by using the input from every facility member who has a part in the project. They all give voice to their concerns about what might go wrong, and we put provisions in the contract to include their suggestions if they are viable.”

“An example would be floor protection for a piping job in a carpeted area. The scope of work called for the plastic and Masonite floor covering to be installed by the contractor before any other work could proceed. Our floor covering man requested this so he would not have to replace carpet once the job was finished and the removed Masonite revealed all of the damaged areas. This had happened in the past, and the work for him was eliminated in the project by a provision in the scope of work. We also use the scope of work to get heat load calculations and drawings for HVAC systems in buildings where the drawings have disappeared. We put the heat load calculation, Testing and Balancing, CAD Drawings and O&M manuals in the contracts so that when the jobs are finished, we now have the systems documented for future reference.”

“The third measure we use pertains to sheet rock and painted walls. We use a provision in our residential and commercial contracts that:  ‘Delays the first payment for sheet rock work until the walls have their first primer coat on them and have passed a visual inspection.’ This sentence ensures that the contractor that did the sheet rock will be the one waiting on money until the “finisher” has done his work and the painter has primed the walls. The Sheetrock contractor becomes the man to make the phone calls to get “his people” on the job quickly to finish. The visual inspection is simply performed with a halogen light turned sideways along the walls. When it is turned sideways and parallel with the walls, all of the “bumps” and imperfections show up better. (Their shadows are visible.) When the light is facing the wall, the imperfections are harder to see because there are no shadows visible.”

This week I had the honor and privilege to attend and present at SchoolDude University which was held in Myrtle Beach SC.  The reason I am sharing this with you is that this professional training conference was not only the most  professional career development opportunity for facility directors, but also the most interesting.  Over the next 2 weeks, I will be sharing some of the highlights with you – If you would like to know more about this event, you can go to http://dude.force.com/sdu12

Thank you

Roger

Continuing education is essential to the success of your facility, maintenance and operations teams. We all must keep learning, whether it’s new advances in technology to improve operational processes, expanding our knowledge of industry fundamentals needed to succeed, or gaining insight and sharing best practices with our peers.  Webcasts, online training, seminars and conferences all provide great opportunities to improve your knowledge.

Although most states have association conferences that offer professional development and learning opportunities, some are now organizing professional certification programs to offer additional and ongoing training for facility professionals, including everyone from the Director to the Assistant, Managers to front-line maintenance and custodial teams.  Professional development should be a priority and be available to all.

Here’s what some of our peers on the Listserv shared about their states’ certification programs:

“New Jersey has a certification program mandated by state statute and offered through Rutgers University.  Visit http://www.cgs.rutgers.edu/programs/educational-facility-management for the particulars on the program.”
Steve Morlino – Newark Public Schools

“We have had a certification program through KSPMA for the past five years in Kentucky.  We ask maintenance personnel and custodians to attend 22 hours of training in 2 hour modules that are tested at the end of each module.  The personnel do it on their own time on Saturdays to avoid having to provide subs.  As a reward, they get a 5% pay raise when Level I certification is completed and after 22 more hours and Level II certification they receive an additional 5% raise.  In order to maintain certification, they have to have 10 CEU hours per year.  Last year we started a facility officer training which 22 participants attended from throughout the state.  We did this  in 3 sessions starting at noon on one day and finishing the following day by noon.  This set-up was to allow the directors to go in to work and get the day going, attend the training and get back to work by the end of the second day to catch up on things.”
Zan Rexroat - Scott County Schools

“Arkansas is kicking off a Certified Facilities Director Program on April 12th of this year. This program has been developed by the ASPMA in conjunction with our State Facilities and Transportation Division and the AAEA (Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators). We (ASPMA) feel that by providing this quality program, our state facility directors and their employees will have access to the best training and information. By proving this to be a successful program and a benefit to our state facilities, it will hopefully become mandated. We modeled our program after some others like Kentucky and Michigan which are both very successful.”
Kenneth Braeutigam – ASPMA President and Russellville School District

Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District has been honored with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2010 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools National Excellence Award for its exemplary efforts to improve IAQ for students, teachers and staff.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans, or about 60 million people, spend their days inside 132,000 elementary and secondary school facilities. Poor IAQ in these buildings can diminish concentration in the classroom; affect student and staff health and attendance; and ultimately affect performance. Poor IAQ can provoke a wide range of health problems, from headaches to fatigue to asthma. Asthma alone accounts for more than 14 million missed school days annually. IAQ management is essential to keep students healthy so that they can attend school and fulfill their highest potential, and staff healthy so that student’s educational fulfillment is possible. Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District has implemented an IAQ management program that emphasizes a TEAMS (Tools for Schools, Energy, Asbestos, Moisture Management, Safety and Security) approach to managing school environments and established a team to identify and address health and safety issues.

EPA created the IAQ Tools for Schools Program in 1995 in response to studies that revealed the increasing age and deterioration of the nation’s school buildings, the alarming rise in asthma and allergies among schoolchildren, and the knowledge that indoor air pollutants can bring about or even worsen a variety of health problems. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study, about half of the nation’s schools now have IAQ management programs in place, up from about one-fourth of schools in 2002 (according to an earlier EPA study). The CDC study also found that 86 percent of schools with IAQ management programs rely on EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools Program to guide their actions. Winners of the IAQ Tools for Schools National Excellence Award are recognized for demonstrating a commitment to student and staff health and wellness by implementing a proactive IAQ management program that has a positive, lasting impact on the school, the staff and students, and the entire community.

“Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District is demonstrating national leadership through its commitment to promote healthy indoor air quality in their community’s schools,” said Mike Flynn, Director of EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. “Their work is helping to protect the health and support the performance of students, faculty and staff.  We are proud of their valuable efforts, and commend them on this outstanding accomplishment.”

The IAQ Tools for Schools Awards Program was initiated to recognize schools and school districts that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving children’s health by promoting healthy IAQ and developing effective and sustainable plans for managing IAQ in their school districts.

For more information about the EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Program, visit http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools.   For more information about Carrollton Farmers Branch TEAMS program visit http://cfbstaff.cfbisd.edu/CFBEnergyAwareness/default.htm

This story was submitted by Stacy Murphy, Schools Coordinator EPA Region 6, Toxics Section

Washington Elementary School District (WESD) is committed to its energy conservation efforts and has set a strategic goal of reducing electric usage by 40% across the district by year end 2013. In year three the District will move forward committed to reducing electric energy use by an additional 5%. Achievement of this goal will mean that the District has reduced its usage by 31% across 34 campuses and 3,000,000 square feet of building space in three years.

The energy conservation program reaches beyond energy conservation. It impacts every department, service and program in the District. It is changing policies and practices within the District and serving as a model for others in Arizona and throughout the nation. Current and future maintenance, building improvements and construction to WESD school buildings will be done with a focus on reducing energy and reducing on-going maintenance costs. Purchasing practices are changing in support of this.

In summary, here is a review of some of the actions, accomplishments, awards and recognitions Washington Elementary School District has been involved in or received simply because it chose to implement an energy conservation program.

1. WESD reduced “electric” energy usage by over 17,000,000 kWh, a 26% reduction over two years. In FY2010, the District paid an average of $.12 per kWh.
2. WESD reduced “natural gas” usage by 8,661 therms, a reduction of over 10%.
3. WESD reduced their solid waste contract from $250,000 to $125,000. This savings amounted to 500% of the goal.
4. WESD earned approximately $80,000 by selling recycled goods that were once thrown away in the trash.
5. WESD became the 1st school district in the state of Arizona to earn the Energy Star Leader award for reducing energy usage across a large portfolio of buildings by >20%.
6. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named the Washington Elementary School District an Energy Star Leader, the first public school district in Arizona to receive this designation.
7. As of July, 2010 seventeen of the 34 benchmarked campuses in the WESD earned the Energy Star designation as energy efficient schools.
8. Manzanita Elementary School received the 2009 Building Owners and Management Association (BOMA Phoenix) “Watt Watchers” award for energy conservation.
9. Sweetwater School was recognized by Phoenix Magazine as the Valley’s “greenest” school (August, 2010).
10. Roadrunner Elementary School submitted an application and won construction of the Safari Green Schoolhouse Project which is scheduled to be built in September and October, 2011. This project is valued at approximately $1,500,000 and will be donated to the District. It is expected to be a LEED Platinum project.
11. Orangewood School submitted an application and won construction of the Studio Green Schoolhouse Project which is scheduled to be built in November and December, 2011. This project is valued at approximately $1,500,000 and will be donated to the District. It is expected to be a LEED Platinum project.
12. WESD is working with a team of architects, contractors and engineers to conduct a geothermal pilot program at Desert View Elementary School to determine the feasibility of using this technology in Arizona to reduce electric energy usage in schools. This will be the first pilot program for a school in the state of Arizona. Much of the cost associated with this pilot is being donated. Data collected will be shared throughout the state. If successful it could reduce electric usage in school buildings by up to 50%.
13. Royal Palm Middle School will be the recipient of the first solar installation in the Washington Elementary School District complements of Salt River Project. The installation will be donated and installed by December 31, 2010.