Schools target utility savings

Some Lowcountry school buildings soon will be saving taxpayers money as a result of energy-efficient upgrades.

The state’s 85 school districts are sharing $20.3 million in federal stimulus money in the form of grants and loans to improve energy use. School districts in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties applied for the money, 25 percent of which is a no-interest loan that must be repaid. The remaining 75 percent is a pure grant.

School districts had to show in their proposals that they would generate significant energy savings, and the 60 districts that have applied for the money thus far have projected a savings of more than $88 million, said Megan Herring, public information coordinator for the state Energy Office. She expects the total savings to be at least $99 million. “One of the main aims of this program is to help reduce the energy utility bill for public entities to, in turn, help reduce the burden on the taxpayer,” she said.

Job creation and retention also are objectives of the stimulus money, and vendors, contractors and manufacturers will be affected by school districts commissioning the work, Herring said. The number of hours worked on each individual school job will be tracked and totaled when the program is finished. The state’s public colleges and universities additionally will receive a total of $12.2 million for these improvements, and state agencies have been allocated $7.4 million for the repairs.

Allocations to school districts were based on the size of their energy bills, and Charleston received the biggest award locally with $1.3 million. The district expects to save more than $523,000 annually in utility costs; its annual utilities budget is more than $10 million.

Two major projects will be funded with that money: heating and air-conditioning equipment upgrades at West Ashley High and the installation of motion sensors in 2,000 classrooms.

Ervin Robeson, the district’s supervisor of the Utilities Management Office, said West Ashley High School already needed maintenance repairs, so Robeson incorporated those with the efficiency upgrades. The new motion sensors will turn off classroom lights when rooms are unoccupied, Robeson said. “It’s a real easy way to save energy,” he said.

The allocation marks the first time in at least two decades that the district has received a specific set-aside for energy-efficiency improvements, he said. The projects have to be finished by December of next year.

Dorchester District 2 will receive $391,060 to make upgrades to lighting fixtures and heating and air-conditioning systems at DuBose Middle School. School leaders chose DuBose for the improvements because it’s one of the neediest schools in terms of repairs, said Allyson Duke, the district’s chief financial officer.

Those improvements will help the district reduce its energy bill by more than $49,000 annually, which Duke called a good savings out of its total utilities budget of nearly $2 million.

Berkeley County schools will receive $711,992 in federal energy stimulus dollars, and it should save the district more than $144,000 annually in utility costs. The district plans to install energy-efficient control systems in Stratford High, Cross Elementary, St. Stephen Middle, Bonner Elementary, Howe Hall AIMS, and Marrington elementary and middle. Stratford and Sedgefield Middle also will receive heating and air-conditioning improvements, and lighting fixtures will be upgraded at Stratford, Berkeley Middle Annex and Devon Forest Elementary.

Dorchester 4 will receive $97,784 to install high-efficient lighting at St. George Middle School, saving the district more than $30,000 annually.