Newton County School Board is considering ways to lower utility costs and improve energy efficiency in the district’s school buildings.
In a Board of Trustees meeting Monday, the board heard from Ryan Burrage, a representative with ADM, an energy efficiency engineering firm about possible ways the district could save money on utility costs.
“There’s money going out the door every month going to the utility companies,” he said.
An energy efficient building, Burrage said, is a lot of different aspects of a building working together to save energy and money. Windows, air conditioning, roof style and structure and lighting are all parts of a structure that can be upgraded to use less power with less waste.
One of the most common energy efficient upgrades is switching to LED lighting, Burrage said. LED lighting uses less electricity, wastes less heat and lasts longer, he said.
“LED lighting is kind of the leading thing in energy efficiency these days,” he said.
Burrage asked the board to authorize a team of ADM engineers at no cost to the district to assess the district’s energy usage to see what changes could be made to improve energy use. He said the engineers would look at lights, HVAC systems, windows and roofs to see how much energy was being wasted and how much money the district could save by changing to a more efficient product.
“This is way for both of us to see if there is an opportunity for improvement,” he said, adding there’s no point in making changes if it won’t help.
Additionally, Burrage told the board there is an opportunity for a Tax Municipal Lease Purchase loan to make improvements to the district’s buildings. If the assessment shows money could be saved, the loan would allow the district to make the needed upgrades and use the savings on utility costs to pay back the loans, he said.
“You all get pieces of a lot of different pies,” he said, referring to the district’s state, federal and local sources of funding. “Those pies don’t really change. This would bring in a piece of a new pie.”
Superintendent J.O. Amis said he has also been talking to another energy efficiency company about solar panels. If the board was inclined to allow ADM to make an assessment, Amis asked the Trustees to allow other companies to make assessments as well.
The board agreed to allow ADM to schedule an assessment and allow Amis to see if the solar panel company would like to do an assessment as well.
Burrage said it would take a few weeks to get a full report put together but said the board would hopefully have a clear path forward in a few months.
In other business, the Board of Trustees approved:
Renewing the district’s copier agreement to lease copy machines;
Drafting a handbook for the Career Center;
A $5,000 donation for new radios for School Resource Officers; and
Completing and returning a legislative survey about the board’s stance on Department of Education policies.
