Mississippi School District Completes $6.4 Million Energy Efficiency Improvement Program

The Harrison County (Miss.) School District recently made comprehensive facility improvements that will save the district more than $390,000 annually. Implemented at 20 facilities through an energy savings performance contract, the program involved upgrading building infrastructures by replacing old, inefficient equipment to reduce energy expenses and improve indoor comfort.

Under the contract, future energy cost savings associated with new, high-efficiency equipment are guaranteed by Chevron Energy Solutions, enabling the district to finance the installations with a much smaller initial investment than would be needed under traditional financing methods. This form of contracting has been popular among schools and other public institutions because it enables them to retain scarce capital resources for other critical needs while benefiting from facility upgrades and reduced energy costs.

The energy solutions group worked with district officials to develop a program that included:

• a district-wide lighting retrofit involving fluorescent lamp conversions and new exit signs that employ Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology,

 

• new electric digital thermostats in classrooms,
• two new boilers and hot water pumps,
• new heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at two schools,
• a centralized energy management system,
• water conservation retrofits, and
• a web-based energy information system, UtilityVision(R), that provides remote access to real-time energy data on each facility to improve maintenance and energy management.

The energy savings from these upgrades will pay for about $4 million of the $6.4 million project, with the remainder being financed by the district.

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