Big Beaver Falls Schools Ready to Save Even More Energy Through Siemens Performance Contract
BUFFALO GROVE, Ill., April 25, 2012 – Recently, the Big Beaver Falls Area School District in Beaver Falls, Pa., signed its third energy savings performance contract with Siemens Building Technologies Division. Now that the construction phase of the $1.6 million ESPC project is complete, the school and its officials are poised to save even more energy and money now that the energy efficiency improvements are installed and commissioned.
Energy and operational savings are guaranteed to save the school the equivalent of $133,000 annually. The benefit of the performance contract (PC) financing mechanism for Big Beaver Falls Area School District is the Siemens-guaranteed energy savings serve as the equity for the loan that paid for all the energy efficiency improvements. Essentially, it is the difference in what the school would be paying for energy and what it will pay now that financed the improvements.
“This is our third PC contract with Siemens and we are confident that this one will produce the same great outcomes that we have experienced with the previous two,” said Dr. Donna Nugent, Superintendent of Big Beaver Falls School District. “Our energy efficiency program investment with Siemens will produce long-lasting positive results including a healthier, more comfortable learning environment where students and faculty can thrive, and ultimately succeed. And every dollar we don’t have to spend on heating, cooling and lighting puts us in a better position to financially support our main mission; which is educating our children.”
Through the leadership of Dr. Donna Nugent and the District’s Administration, Siemens Building Technolo¬gies Division supported the district to attain $1.6 million in Qualified School Construction Bond funding, a competitive grant that offset the interest cost on the bond to fund the project to .17 percent - saving the district over $600,000 in interest costs. The Qualified School Construction Bond freed additional funding to pay for the replacement of three large skylights—an adjacent project that would not, on its own, have provided enough efficiency benefits to support the ESPC financing structure.
In September 2010, Siemens began the construction phase of the project using local and regional contractors to complete HVAC and lighting system upgrades and other improvements to the to the school. As a result, facility improvements, completed in December 2011, will generate significant energy savings including:
• Electricity consumption reduction of 545,320 kWh annually
• 2660 MCF of natural gas per year
• CO2 emissions cut by 1,406,300 pounds per year
To achieve these results, a Siemens Apogee® Building Automation System was installed to more efficiently control and monitor HVAC and other energy-intensive building systems in this school. Local and regional contractors installed lighting improvements and exchanged existing fixtures with lower-wattage rated fixtures and occupancy sensors to turn lights off automatically. A new high-efficiency boiler plant was installed in the middle school, along with weatherization to all facilities to reduce uncontrolled air infiltration and reduce wasted energy. Additionally, new HVAC units were installed within the high school and rehabilitation work on the high school and middle school heating/cooling systems.
Even though the project’s construction phase has concluded, over the 17-year duration of the contract Siemens will annually measure and verify the energy savings the project achieves for the district. This relationship ensures that the facility improvements, which are financed based on guaranteed energy savings, will continue to deliver long-term financial and operational benefits to Big Beaver Falls Area School District.
Siemens Infrastructure & Cities Sector, with approximately 87,000 employees worldwide, offers sustainable technologies for metropolitan areas and their infrastructures. Its offerings include complete traffic and transportation systems, intelligent logistics, efficient energy supply, environmentally compatible building technologies, modernization of the way power is transmitted and distributed, and smart consumption of electricity. The sector is comprised of the Rail Systems, Mobility and Logistics, Low and Medium Voltage, Smart Grid and Building Technologies Divisions as well as Osram Sylvania. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/infrastructure-cities
The Siemens Building Technologies Division is the world’s market leader for safe and energy efficient buildings (“green buildings”) and infrastructures. As a service provider, system integrator and product vendor, Building Technologies has offerings for building automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), fire protection and security. For more information, visit www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies
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