Upgrades help Huntley schools save on energy costs

Huntley school officials say building improvements have saved the district thousands of dollars in energy costs over several years - and now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Energy Star certification to District 158's Administration and Transportation Center.

Officials are also investigating whether installing solar panels at Huntley High School would be beneficial.

Energy Star designation means the building performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets the EPA's strict energy-efficiency performance levels.

"We're better than 80 percent of the buildings in this profile," said Doug Renkosik, District 158 director of operations and maintenance.

Energy Star-certified commercial buildings on average use 35 percent less energy and release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The administration building at 650 Academic Drive in Algonquin, which opened in 2004, houses the bus fleet, transportation, administrative and operational departments.

District 158 has saved more than $20,300 in energy costs over two years, and is saving more than $460,000 yearly in operational efficiencies - including replacing the controls for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems and lighting retrofits, Renkosik said.

More than $100,000 of the savings came from replacing ballasts and light bulbs, and reconfiguring the light bulb layout in more than 9,000 fixtures, Renkosik added. "We reanalyzed the lighting levels. We reduced the number of light bulbs and fixtures."

Officials switched to LED lights in the parking lots and outside the schools as they consume less electricity, even though the bulbs cost more. Fluorescent lighting still is preferred indoors because the return on investment wasn't good enough, Renkosik said.

Energy-saving upgrades include replacing HVAC equipment and three chillers at some schools, and using more efficient equipment and smarter building design for the $35 million expansion at Huntley High School.

District 158 has been allotted more than $1.1 million in state grants for some projects.

Last school year, District 158 reduced its electricity usage by 3,192,000 kilowatt-hours and natural gas consumption by 88,978 therms.

While saving money was the main reason for the improvements, officials also see "great value in making our buildings greener," Renkosik said. "It does ultimately put less pollution into the environment."

"By consuming less electricity, we put less strain on the utility power plants, which are the biggest pollution generators," he said.

Looking ahead, officials now are considering the feasibility of implementing solar panels at Huntley High. "That may ultimately reap us significant financial savings and reduce our electricity consumption at our high school," said Renkosik, adding the goal would be to bring consumption down to zero.

Officials will discuss the solar panels idea at the Jan. 21 school board meeting.