TOPSHAM

After School Administrative District 75 cut its energy costs nearly in half over the last decade through energy saving measures, the school board unanimously approved a 15- year contract for additional energy saving projects with Honeywell on Thursday.

Chris Shaw, the facilities director for SAD 75, said the district in 2006 put out a request for qualifications for a performance enhancement to the energy systems and cost savings initiative for district schools.

The district entered a contract with Honeywell, which established a list of projects to be paid back in 10 years, Shaw said.

The advantage of a performance contract, Shaw said, is that the school district uses the energy costs saved annually through the engineering changes to pay for those projects.

The first phase includes projects the Mt. Ararat and middle school gyms.

The second phase involved Honeywell looking at every school for energy improvements, with the exception of the middle school, because the district was involved in litigation with the architect and engineers who built the school, although Shaw noted that Honeywell has been asked to take a long, hard look at the middle school.

The third phase will identify additional improvements that can be made in all the schools, owing to further technological developments. It is now economical to transition to interior LED lighting, for example.

Third-phase projects will not include the high school, because the district is looking at a state-funded new or renovated high school project.

Jim Lucy of Honeywell said the company is proposing to reduce baseline energy costs by another 18 percent that it would guarantee from a reduction standpoint — both for electrical and heating costs. It is also looking at how to refinance debt from its phase-two project to lower the interest rate and reinvest some of those payments.

“We’re doing a lot of things that would address comfort, performance, air quality and buildings,” Lucy said.

As buildings get older, there are systems such as boilers, ventilation and control systems that only last so long and some, he said, of those systems have exceeded their expected lifespan.

SAD 75 has an opportunity to take advantage of utility incentives to the tune of an estimated $127,000 in energy rebates through Efficiency Maine, according to Lucy.

Through refinancing the first phase project debt and factoring in cost avoidance, and the annual figure the district will see in reduced electricity and heating dollars from the current baseline cost, the total project would cost a projected $6.4 million, which would be offset by project revenues totaling more than $6.5 million, according to Honeywell.

Lucy noted that as Honeywell started the first phase, SAD 75 was approaching $1 million in expenditures in energy line items and Business Manager Steve Dyer said that spending is down to a little more than $500,000 for next school year.

Projects will include ventilation equipment and replacement of boilers from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as building weatherization and building exhaust upgrades, liquid propane dual fuel conversions, heating pump upgrades, walk-in cooler and freezer energy efficiency upgrades. More than 35 various mechanical system upgrades and installation of window film are also included in the scope of work.

Honeywell anticipates a 12- month construction period and plans to get started right away, starting with boiler replacement.

School Board Chairwoman Kim Totten said the majority of people on the Facilities and Finance committees are in favor of the 15-year plan over a proposed 10-year plan.

Totten said the contract with Honeywell would allow the district to avoid floating a bond to pay for needed boiler and ventilation repairs in district schools.

“We’re looking at addressing a lot of things that the school system wants to move toward and we’ll be using less energy,” Totten said. “We’ll be greener in the long run.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com