Northeast Texas District Aims To Improve Energy Efficiency

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 02/17/09

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Grand Saline Independent School District, located about 70 miles east of Dallas, has implemented $700,000 in facilities upgrades in order to improve operations and and efficiencies. The district contracted with TAC for improvements in lighting and energy efficiency, as well as a unified building management system (BMS) for the entire district.

"Our problems ranged from inconsistent lighting in our gym to a malfunctioning BMS in the new high school to the lack of a BMS on our other campuses," said GSISD superintendent Mark Keahey. "We also needed to comply with new state laws mandating that school districts reduce their energy consumption by 5 percent each year for the next six years, (but the state) had no plan in place to accomplish this. Through the performance contract, TAC provided solutions to resolve these problems and a method to pay for the improvements."

Once the contract has been fulfilled, the improvements will save GSISD 667,474 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity, which is equivalent to planting 11,885 trees or avoiding 965,191 driving miles, said TAC VP of Sales Shon Anderson. The company estimates cost savings in the range of about $40,000 per year on utility costs. Under the contract, Dallas-based TAC, a division of Schneider Electric, guarantees the cost savings on energy and agrees to pay the difference if the amount is not realized.