Dist. 204 working its way back to energy conservation
In a time when "going green" is the thing to do, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials were told Monday the staff and students "appear to have lost some of their energy conservation focus" from earlier in the decade.
Bucking the green trend, in recent years, may have cost the district millions, which they're now attempting to recoup with the help of the district's facilities and maintenance contractor. Aramark Education has proposed an energy conservation program that may help the district cut its energy bills by as much as $3 million over five years.
Assistant Superintendent for business Dave Holm said the district would pay about $1.9 million during that time for the program. In addition to the energy savings, Aramark would provide the district with about another $400,000 in benefits, so the district would gain $1.5 million over five years in the end.
Aramark business development director Mike Reese told board members they've been trending the wrong way.
"If you look from 2007 to 2008, you've increased a couple thousand BTUs per square foot (in all district buildings)," he said. "So obviously we want to invert that trend and send you guys heading the opposite way."
Based on initial building walk-throughs, Reese said the district's heating, cooling and ventilation could be optimized by setting them at one uniform temperature and time schedule across the district, some gymnasium lighting could be upgraded to be more efficient, and the staff could stand to be retrained on efficiency.
"There are some dollars becoming available through each state through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," he said. "Illinois is lagging behind in how those dollars are appropriated, so one of our challenges is to identify what the district may need so that when that application process becomes available, either through grants or low-interest loans, that the district has some not shovel-ready, but conceptual projects ready to go."
Holm said he intends to bring Aramark's proposal back to the board Aug. 31 for approval.