The results speak for themselves. In just one-year

Evergreen School District saved over a million dollars in energy costs.

Facing budget cuts and limited resources, Evergreen School District wanted to be proactive in finding ways to save money.

In reviewing their utility bills, the district saw an opportunity to reduce energy costs. They also had become aware of energy saving programs available to them through their local utility, Clark Public Utilities. This led to the decision to implement a district-wide energy savings initiative and take advantage of these opportunities.

In November 2008, the district hired Dave Cone, as their Resource Conservation Manager. With assistance from Environmental Controls, Dave took an aggressive approach to create and implement an energy management plan that would identify opportunities where they could reduce energy consumption, while still maintaining the building’s comfort and services.

When the district first implemented their energy savings initiative they knew of the potential for energy savings, however they had no idea that they would save over a million dollars, in the first year alone.

This significant reduction in energy did not go unnoticed. In March, 2010, the School District was among 40 organizations across the United States to be nationally recognized and honored with an EPA Energy STAR Partner of the Year Award.

The swift drop in energy usage and corresponding dollars saved, were two of the reasons that ENERGY STAR selected the school district as a recipient of the prestigious award.

Environmental Controls worked with Dave Cone and Evergreen School District, on upgrading 7 of their schools to Alerton’s Direct Digital Controls (DDC) system.

“DDC upgrades are definitely worth it. They provide an outstanding diagnostic tool, and significant way to save energy. You don’t need the sophistication of a building engineer to run the system, as you do with pneumatics,” said Cone.

The district is utilizing several of the energy management features in their Alerton BACtalk DDC system, including: Advanced Scheduling, Demand Limiting, and Optimum Start.

According to Cone, “Advanced Scheduling was the biggest energy saver. Specifically, managing after-hours use of energy, and ensuring event schedules were being setup properly by the facilities staff.”

Optimum start is another key feature the district is utilizing. With optimum start, you schedule only the occupied time for the zone. Equipment only works when necessary to condition the space and keep occupants comfortable.  You schedule occupied times and the Alerton system calculates when equipment actually needs to start. No additional programming or manual adjustments are required. Optimum start learns every time it runs, self-adjusting to ensure maximum efficiency and comfort.

“Maintenance personnel are saving both time and money using Alerton’s Envision for BACtalk operator workstation software. For example, staff can easily trouble shoot and make new schedules and equipment adjustments from the Administrative office computer screen, rather than having to always go into the field to diagnose issues,” said Cone.

Environmental Controls upgraded the controls system in Pacific and Wy’East Middle Schools as well as Riverview, Sifton, and Sunset Elementary Schools, to the Alerton BACtalk system. Upgrading the building automation systems resulted in a 37.4% energy use reduction and $140,000 saved.

At Fircrest and Image Elementary Schools, we replaced the pneumatic controls, which resulted in an annualized savings of 56% energy use reduction and $101,000 saved. Below is an energy savings comparison for the 7 schools we were involved in. 

Energy Savings for Comparative Years June, 2008 to June, 2010:

Using DDC systems as part of their energy savings initiative played a key role in helping Evergreen School District reduce their utility bills; resulting in significant cost savings.

Located in Vancouver, Washington, Evergreen School District is comprised of 31 schools, 12 of which are certified ENERGY STAR schools. Their goal is to have all 31 schools certified to that level.

Incentives from local utility companies are available, and return on investment for upgrading to DDC systems is significant. Environmental Controls has assisted many customers with energy saving programs. Please contact us for more information about how we can assist you in implementing an energy savings plan.