Photo by Amy Cherry Aramark Technical Services Advisor Matt Campise, left, and Aramark Regional Director Oliver Delgado presented the findings of an energy assesment conducted within the past 1 1/2 years throughout district schools.

By Amy Cherry

Staff Writer

Aramark representatives recently presented information to the St. Marys Area School District Board of Directors regarding the district’s current energy consumption.

According to Superintendent Murray Neeper, the board has reviewed various energy savings plans and has looked at several potential providers.

As part of this research representative from St. Marys visited the Athens School District in Bradford County to review their energy plan.

Matt Campise, Aramark technical services advisor, presented results to the board from an energy assessment conducted 1 1/2 years ago.

“We are looking for an energy initiative to see where potential savings lie,” Campise said. “We are working to develop a plan with guaranteed savings.”

Currently St. Marys Area School District consumes 96 MBTU or thermal units per gross square foot. The goal of Aramark’s program is to decrease that number to 61.

Among the 15 school districts studied by Aramark, St. Marys has the third–highest energy consumption rating.

As part of the district’s overall consumption in 2007-08, natural gas usage was 68 percent or 26,435 BTUs totaling $343,567 while electricity usage was 32 percent or 12,527 BTUs totaling $244,716.

Total energy consumption for last year was 38,962 BTU costing $588,282.

District–wide, Bennetts Valley Elementary has the highest energy cost per square foot. However that number has somewhat declined as a portion of the school, including six classrooms, have been blocked off and are no longer in use. Campise noted this change will not have much of an offset on the overall plan.

The district–wide average of BTUs per gross square foot stands of 96. Bennetts Valley measures at 118, with the high school at 100, middle school at 103, South St. Marys Street at 78 and Fox Township at 73.

Campise noted the district’s overall heating, ventilating and air-conditioning or HVAC system is in average condition and is well-maintained given its age, with many components beyond normal end-of-life particularly at Bennetts Valley.

The district also has some centralized Johnson Control building automation with a primary operator station in the high school. However support for the JCI system is minimal due to the school’s distance from any nearby branch office.

Campise added that increasing in-house capabilities through high–level training is vital in energy savings.

Pneumatic controls exist in the buildings, all of which appear functional. Campise noted these types of controls cannot be accessed through a central system like JCIs.

The district also currently utilizes both T8 and T12 incandescent lighting fixtures including some with magnetic ballast. According to Campise large spaces are better lit with high intensity discharge lighting. Changing to T8 fixtures will likely save in energy costs as a narrower lamp is more energy-efficient with little loss of light.

Campise added that additional observations from the study show there are significant opportunities which exist through improving the control systems in the buildings with pneumatics and stand-alone systems to provide a single centralized building automation system for operation interaction.