As school systems prepare for summer maintenance and upgrade activities, it’s important to keep in mind the many opportunities to enhance energy efficiency and building performance. Here are a few tips based on our own projects and the productive efforts of many of our school clients.

Maintenance

The simplest way to ensure that mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems are operating at peak performance and efficiency is to ensure they are properly maintained. Following a regular maintenance schedule ensures the longest life and best performance from air handling units, plumbing fixtures, chillers, boilers, pumps, cooling towers, lighting, and other equipment in school buildings. Standard maintenance activities include:

• Replacing air filters 
• Cleaning evaporator coils and coil condensate drains
• Lubricating bearings
• Inspecting unit and boiler burner assemblies
• Verifying equipment control sequences
• Inspecting air passages and wiring connections
• Verifying equipment grounding
• Inspecting wiring insulation
• Verifying warning signs 

System Upgrades

Upgrading old MEP systems is also important to increase efficiency, and summer is a good time to install new systems. Understanding the construction process, equipment lead times, contract processing, and installation timeframes helps to complete summer projects before staff and students return to school.

Plumbing systems can be upgraded in a variety of ways:

• Replacing old fixtures with new water-saver fixtures can decrease potable water usage by 30%-40% 
• Installing rain collection barrels connected to downspouts along the building perimeter is a low-cost way to capture water for irrigation, in lieu of utilizing potable water
• Solar domestic water heating systems, although more expensive, are also a great way to decrease energy usage in a plumbing system

Mechanical/electrical systems can also be upgraded:

• Replacing older equipment with newer, high-efficiency items, such as air-to-air heat pumps, water-source heat pumps, chillers, and boilers, is an economical approach to system upgrades. Items such as variable speed drives, high-efficiency motors, and carbon dioxide controls can all be added to the system to decrease energy usage and cost 
• Installation of a direct digital control (DDC) system allows systems to be monitored, locally and remotely, to ensure proper operation. Equipment run times, problem codes, and current equipment status can be trended and viewed for maintenance personnel use. A key benefit of DDC systems is the ability to generate occupied and unoccupied building schedules for the mechanical and electrical systems, which allows building temperatures to rise in the summer and fall in the winter when students aren’t in the building, using less energy and providing cost savings
• Electrical lighting upgrades can also provide energy savings. Occupancy sensors, relatively low-cost devices that turn lighting on when sensing movement, eliminate lights being left on in unoccupied spaces for long periods of time

There are many other opportunities for energy savings, in terms of equipment, system operation, and how we conserve energy individually with school buildings. It can all add up to more money for instruction and student needs, rather than energy costs. I encourage each of us to do our part in the proper use and conservation of energy in our daily lives—at school, work, and home.