High Fuel Costs Force Creative Thinking

By Margot Sanger-Katz

Facing the realization that rising fuel costs are here to stay, several school districts in the Concord area have begun refitting their buildings to conserve heat, purchasing wood-pellet-burning boilers to replace traditional oil-powered furnaces and forming buying collectives to get better deals on utilities.

Business administrators say that incentive programs from utility companies and growing voter concern about global warming have helped them invest in technologies designed to insulate both their buildings from the cold and municipal budgets from variations in heating costs. Several local districts have seen their utility bills stabilize thanks to efficiency projects, after several years of 7 percent and 8 percent annual increases.

Voters in Bow approved a major renovation of its middle school two years ago. In addition to much-needed roof repairs and modernization of locker rooms and classrooms, the project also included improved insulation throughout the building, more efficient electrical devices and new energy-efficient boilers. Bow has also joined a local cooperative that purchases heating oil, diesel fuel and electricity in bulk, an arrangement that discounts utility costs.

This year, voters in Bow will see only a 1 percent increase in the budget’s line item for utility costs, in a year when prices for natural gas, heating oil and electricity all climbed by significantly more. According to district business manager Duane Ford, it won’t take long for the improvements to pay for themselves.

"The board has been really committed. They may have to pay a few bucks now, but they’re going to see some benefit to it," Ford said. "And I think they’ve seen that in the last few years."

Voters in the Merrimack Valley School District made a similar investment when they purchased a wood chip heating system for the middle and high schools. In its elementary schools, the district is paying $2.40 a gallon for heating oil, while the wood chips cost the equivalent of about 60 cents a gallon. Savings from the project have largely balanced out price increases at the older buildings, Superintendent Mike Martin said.

The Kearsarge Regional School District looks forward to similar results. This month, the district opened a new middle school in Sutton. Though the school replaces a much smaller building, it was designed with energy savings in mind. From the high tech boilers chosen – capable of burning oil and wood chips, depending on the energy markets – to the sunlight-maximizing orientation of the building, designers emphasized energy conservation. Some of those changes made the construction more expensive, but according to business manager Larry LeBouf, the district has already received a rebate for reducing its electricity needs and hopes to see further savings when it begins burning wood next winter.

Even school districts without the need or money for a major renovation project have found ways to make more modest investments in energy conservation. Several local districts have invested in computer controlled thermostat systems that allow maintenance crews to easily lower temperatures at night and during vacations and to monitor variations in temperature across buildings. They’ve also sought the help of utility companies, which have begun offering energy audits and offering tips to reduce usage during peak hours. Shaker Regional School District has not recently renovated its buildings, but district officials brought in experts for a thermal scan of their facilities. The results helped officials pinpoint drafts and improve spot insulation.

"We’ve tried to do whatever measures we could to reduce the usage," said Debbie Gay, the district’s business administrator. Despite these small changes and a cooperative bulk purchase agreement like Bow’s, the district is budgeting for a 7 percent increase in heating costs.

The Inter-Lakes School District signed up for a long-term lease program through Honeywell that helped it finance efficiency improvements throughout its facilities. Changes included insulation for pipes, improved air ventilation, LED exit signs and motion sensors for classroom lights.

The project, which started in 2006, was completed last summer, and the district has already seen significant utility savings, reflected in next year’s budget. Electricity usage has gone down by a third and the district has saved about $60,000 in heating fuel, according to School Board Chairman John Carty.

"We’re very pleased with it," Carty said. "And we got on board right before energy prices started going through the roof, which makes it even better."

Still, district officials said they know that they can only trim budgets so far through efficiency. They remain at the mercy of oil prices and Mother Nature. They continue to worry about a cold winter or a precipitous jump in oil costs.

"Nobody could have predicted that prices would go this high," Gay said.

Originally published by Margot Sanger-Katz Monitor staff.

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