BCSC looks to energy conservation with solar power, LED lighting

Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is searching for ways to reduce its carbon footprint and save money in its 21 buildings in the district.

BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman presented two energy-saving initiatives for the corporation to consider at the BCSC school board meeting Monday night.

These initiatives include retrofitting all current light fixtures with 14-watt LED lights. The LED lights would replace the T8 light bulbs currently used throughout the district.

Boezeman said this would cost the district $1.7 million but would yield a $325,000 reduction in the corporation’s annual energy costs.

Boezeman also encouraged board members to consider adding rooftop solar panels to Northside Middle School and Taylorsville Elementary School to reduce the amount of kilowatt hours, or the amount of energy used in one hour, by approximately 30 percent.

The corporation’s energy efficiency index shows a BCSC average of 61 points — 11 more than the recommended score of 50 points. The energy efficiency index is a figure the corporation uses that combines the recommended industry standard and BCSC’s own figures from architectural reviews.

The administration building ranked the highest with an energy efficiency of 102 before the district implemented updates to its control system earlier this year. Taylorsville Elementary School ranked the lowest at 51.

In 2018, the corporation paid around $2.2. million in electricity costs at its 21 buildings. More than 1,950,000 kilowatt hours are currently used annually at Northside and almost 480,000 kilowatt hours are used at Taylorsville.

Boezeman said Northside and Taylorsville were proposed because Northside has a fairly new roof, installed in 2013, and construction on a new roof at Taylorsville will begin this summer. Northside is also the district’s most inefficient building that houses students with an efficiency index score of 83.

“It would not be wise for us to put 20-year solar panels on a roof with just 10 years of life left,” Boezeman said, explaining why Northside and Taylorsville were chosen.

If the district does implement solar panels at the two proposed sites, the number of kilowatt hours could be reduced by a little more than 1.2 million hours. This would save the corporation about $162,000 annually with a 10.2-year return on investment.

He also proposed three facility improvements for 2019, including Northside’s HVAC exhaust and humidity controls, Northside’s kitchen HVAC system and Mt. Healthy Elementary School’s roof. These projects would cost the corporation a total of $1,270,000.

Combining the total cost of the three facility improvements with the $1.7 million LED replacement of all buildings and the addition of solar panels at Northside and Taylorsville would cost the corporation a total of $4,670,000.

Boezeman said the district, however, would see a $466,000 increase in annual energy savings.

“BCSC has made tremendous strides in both the reduction of utility cost and reduction of our carbon footprint over the past several years,” Boezeman said. “We look to continue those efforts by the detail outlined in the presentation.”

The board voted to approve a hearing to formally talk about the energy-savings ideas in a public setting. That hearing will likely take place in June, school officials said.

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Total estimated cost of projects

LED Replacement – All buildings: $1,700,000

Solar energy – Northside Middle School: $1,100,000

Solar energy – Taylorsville Elementary School: $600,000

Controls – Northside Middle School: $250,000

Cafeteria HVAC – Northside Middle School : $40,000

Roof replacement – Mt. Healthy Elementary School: $980,000

Total: $4,670,000

Annual energy savings: $466,000

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