By Michael Rainger
FauquierNow.com Contributor

Big picture facts of life: Domestic low energy costs may not last forever. In the United Kingdom, an imperial gallon (now metric) of petrol has cost $8 in U.S. dollars. We fight wars to protect our supply lines. Europe, India and China increasingly compete with us for the same energy sources.  

Michael Rainger

This article is about just one Virginia public school system that is enjoying success in embracing change, saving money, reducing waste and providing an improved educational content to students, thanks to the actions of forward-thinking leaders.

This has not happened overnight. The journey began three years ago, and it continues to evolve. The rate of change is more rapid due to the increasing sense of urgency concerning energy matters in this wonderful country of ours.
In the fall of 2008, The Fauquier Times-Democrat reported a projected $4 million shortfall in the annual budget. At a monthly meeting of the School Support Council, it became clear that there were NO formal energy conservation programs in effect within Fauquier County Public School.

A volunteer quickly found that both school and county energy costs were also projected to be around $4 million for the fiscal year. A tongue-in-cheek request to move to a virtual learning and administrative environment, reducing energy costs to ZERO, was not accepted!

Welcome to Fauquier NOW, where the discourse is intelligent, real energy costs are minimal, and the conversation is frequent, open, and polite! The data presented here, from www.Energized-Fauquier.com, is designed to assist the communication and knowledge transfer concerning integrated energy matters in our public school system.

Energy conservation programs were presented and discussed at the School Support Council meeting in Warrenton on a cold January evening in 2009. The school superintendent was skeptical and said as much in a subsequent article published Jan. 23, 2009, in The Times-Democrat. However, to give him credit, Dr. Jonathan Lewis indicated that a committee would be formed and that these energy matters would be discussed further by his staff. Eventually, Warren

Darrell was appointed to head the new energy programs. He deserves our thanks for a complex job that remains in progress.

Phase 1 was to capture energy usage in all public schools and related structures. Not an easy task. FHS alone had 13 electric meters. Heating and cooling equipment varies and uses grid-based electricity, generated from coal blasted by mountain-top removal mining. Other fuel sources include nuclear, propane and heating oil.

Selected data for fiscal 2009:
• Total energy cost in public schools, $3.3 million. County government raised the total to about $4 million.
• Most expensive high school energy user, Kettle Run at $499,712, a new school with some startup issues.
• Most expensive middle school energy user, Auburn at $183,062 (NOVEC, with rates higher than Dominion Power.
• Most expensive elementary school energy user, W.G. Coleman at $206, 221 (NOVEC).
• Lowest energy cost per square foot, South Eastern Alternative School at 98 cents.
• Highest energy cost per square foot, Coleman at $3.31.
• Lowest energy cost per year per student, Mary Walter Elementary at $193.
• Highest energy cost per year per student, Coleman at $547.

Prior to this data for fiscal 2009, a  volunteer effort collected school energy use information for July 2007 through September 2008 and reviewed findings and recommendations with school and county administrators.

In fiscal 2010, as a result of implementing these recommendations, many cost savings were achieved:
• Total energy costs in public schools, $2.9 million, a savings of more than $448,000.
• Most improved high school, Kettle Run with about $85,000 savings. Fauquier and Liberty also reduced energy expenses.
• Most improved middle school, Warrenton with about $33,000 in savings. All middle schools reduced energy costs.
• Most improved elementary school, Brumfield with about $23,000 in total energy savings.
• Least improved middle School, Marshall with about $6,000 in cost savings (NOVEC).
• Least improved school, Southeastern Alternative which increased costs by about $10,000.
• Lowest energy cost per year per student, Grace Miller at $163.
• Lowest energy cost per year per student, Kettle Run at $396.

Energy news for fiscal 2011:
• Kettle Run reduced costs by about $45,000 from fiscal 10 (NOVEC).
• Auburn reduced costs by about $14,000 (NOVEC).
• Marshall reduced costs by about $$20,000 (NOVEC).
• Coleman reduced costs by about $13,000 (NOVEC).
• Richie increased costs by about $24,000 (NOVEC).
• Total energy costs across the public school system stayed flat at $2.9 million.
• These schools increased energy costs: Richie, Cedar Lee, Bradley, Thompson, Grace Miller, Pearson, Brumfield, Pierce, Mary Walter, P. B. Smith, Southeastern and Warrenton (12 of 20).
• Many school trailers were removed in fiscal 2011.
• Fauquier High renovation, including geothermal HVAC, project broke ground fall of 2011 (fiscal 2012).

The morethan 800 volunteer hours (fall 2008 to present) devoted to saving energy in Fauquier County Public Schools and reporting results were documented and the data reviewed with administrators. Copies were distributed to school board members earlier this year, along with additional recommendations for the deployment of Phase 6, in March’s public hearing on the fiscal 2012 school budget.

Stay tuned as we ramp up the efforts in fiscal 2012.

Most data is online at www.energized-fauquier.com as a free service to residents, PTOs, teachers, students, parents … Major updates are in the works and should be completed by volunteers by the end of October 2011.

Future articles will include BTU review, types of heating, occupancy rates, computer versus manual control systems, weather impacts, active parents and students monitoring school energy usage, etc.

Notes about this article:
- A new bulk purchase agreement (NOVEC) as a part of a Prince William based cooperative structure was implemented in FY11 to reduce rates that were higher than Dominion.
- Only costs are reviewed in this article.
- True energy usage is based on units such as BTU and this analysis will follow at a later date.
- Volunteers “make a difference.” If you have a passion for change – get involved. We need your expertise and interest.
 

Michael Rainger has been resident of Fauquier County since 1995. His prior work experience included international expertise in information technology, Total Quality Management, benchmarking and continuous process improvement. He has introduced energy conservation systems to Fauquier County Public Schools, County government and Vint Hill during the past three years. In 2008, with a third child at C. Hunter Richie Elementary School and two older daughters who had already graduated from Richie, Marshall Middle and Fauquier High School, Rainger wanted to make an “energized” difference. As a taxpayer he wanted to avoid reduced educational services because of declining revenues and increasing expenses within the public school system.