Description
Bow High School in Bow, NH is a two story, 137,000 sq. ft. full purpose public academic facility, built in the 1990s. During the summer of 2017, a two stage project was undertaken to improve energy efficiency in the building. The motivations were to cut utility costs, as well as meet the objectives of investing in reducing the consumption and carbon footprint of the school.
Stage 1, completed in July 2017, involved power treatments to improve Power Factor and reduce distribution losses on many of the electric motors in the HVAC systems to lower electricity consumption and demand. Stage 2 was the retrofitting of the majority of the existing fluorescent lighting to much more energy lean LED solutions, providing cost savings as well as higher quality interior environment. This was completed in July of 2018.
Savings Summary
actual projected
Mean Annual Cost Savings – lighting: n/a $18,883
Mean Annual Cost Savings – power treatments: $10,878 $10,424
Net Payback Period, after lighting rebates: 1.75 years **
** A key enabler of this project was the very significant rebate available from the utility for the types of LED lighting installed. Energy LB worked closely with the utility, accompanying BHS in submitting all relevant data and qualifying for the most incentives possible.
Technologies Deployed
- LED Lighting – reductions in power draw of 55% – 65%. We also worked with Bow HS implementing a specific switch and wiring scheme in classrooms and offices in order to retain their preferred “3-level” lighting options.
- Power Factor Correction – the physical layout of the building’s electric distributions system, combined with the high number and utilization of the roof top HVAC/Energy Recovery units, was such that reducing distribution losses and improving load supply voltages through reduced current draw yielded significant benefit.
“In our district, we try to do energy efficiency projects every year. The team at Energy LB Resources
showed our facilities department an innovative and cost effective way to reduce electric utilization
without changing out equipment in our HVAC system. We were able to save significant budget dollars
with little upfront cost and a low payback period.”
Duane Ford, Assistant Superintendent for Business Administration