Langley School District 35
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The story
"The Langley Education community gets top marks for energy efficiency."
Phil Shepherd, Langley School District 35
The situation
Langley School District 35 is home to 21,000 students and over 2,300 full-time employees, who learn and work in 48 buildings and 53 portables. For a typical elementary school in the district, annual electricity costs come to $8,000; for a secondary school, $60,000 to $100,000.
Several factors place added pressures on energy use in the district, including the need to add on or build new buildings and the increasing use of school facilities by the community during off-hours. Yet Langley has relatively modern facilities, which limits opportunities to achieve significant energy savings through major building upgrades.
Like other school districts throughout B.C., Langley faces the challenge of trying to find a balance between the rising costs of education and lower budgets. In recent years, facilities personnel, led by Tom Louie, Director of Facilities Services, and his team of Phil Shepherd, Manager of Support Systems, Chuck Morris, Manager of Building Trades, and Les Morrison, Head Electrician, have been looking at reducing energy use as a way to free up operating cost savings. The question was, Where to begin?
The solution
Realizing that information was the key to sound energy management planning, the team took advantage of a number of educational opportunities offered by BC Hydro. Langley became the first school district in the province to participate in BC Hydro’s One 2 Five sessions in which staff analyzed the energy conservation potential in the district; Phil Shepherd took the Energy Manager training course; and Langley sent staff to Spot the Savings workshops.
The school district then used the information gathered to develop an energy management plan designed to reduce energy use, realize energy cost savings and assist in Canada’s international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plan set the target of saving $350,000 through a 10% reduction in electricity use and a 15% reduction in natural gas use over 1998 levels by the year 2008.
To reach its targets, Langley School District took action in three broad areas: energy use monitoring, energy-saving projects, and training and education.
Energy use monitoring
As a first step, Langley installed a software program that allows users to monitor and track their usage and costs for electricity, gas, water, etc., for single or multiple sites. This enables district planners to spot the areas in greatest need of improvement and to identify energy-saving opportunities.
Energy-saving projects
As a Power Smart Partner, Langley qualified for Power Smart Partner Program incentive funding to assist with project implementation. At several schools, lighting and HVAC audits and retrofits were carried out that involved replacing inefficient T12 fluorescent lamps with energy-efficient T8s, replacing old boilers with energy-efficient units, and addressing heat loading problems from south-facing windows.
In one innovative project, district-wide HVAC and power systems were shut down during the summer of 2002. This measure alone saved $65,000 in electricity costs, and cut energy use by 41% compared to the previous summer.
Training and education
Langley participated in the Power Smart Students Program, in which five high school students, trained by BC Hydro and mentored by district facilities staff, conducted energy audits in elementary schools. Since then, maintenance staff have been implementing many of the energy-saving recommendations arising from the 11 school audits that the students performed.
The district also invited BC Hydro representatives to make Power Smart presentations at two professional development days.
Langley plans to continue building energy efficiency awareness by developing an incentive program that will reward individual schools for the efficiencies they achieve, and by training all maintenance staff in energy conservation techniques and equipment.
The benefits
Reduced operating costs
Langley exceeded its energy-saving targets in the first year, reducing overall energy use by nearly 5% and saving $358,000 worth of electricity and natural gas. Additional savings were achieved through lower maintenance costs resulting from longer-lasting, more efficient equipment.
Reduced environmental impacts
The energy-saving measures have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 900 tonnes, enabling Langley to contribute to Canada’s climate change efforts. Because fewer lamps are required in certain areas, materials use and landfill waste are also decreased.
Increased comfort
Improvements to lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation systems provide a more pleasant environment for students, teachers and staff.
More informed and involved education community
As a result of training and education received prior to the 2002 summer shutdown, custodians and maintenance staff are more knowledgeable and motivated about energy efficiency. They will be able to adapt the principle of shutting down unneeded energy systems where applicable during routine cleaning and maintenance activities during the school year.
A key component of the Power Smart Student Program is that, in the second year, the high school students deliver energy efficiency educational campaigns in district elementary schools. This will create heightened awareness and behavioural change among teachers, students and staff.
Contact us
Find out how Power Smart can energize your bottom line. Call us today at 604 453 6400 in the Lower Mainland or 1 866 453 6400 elsewhere in B.C.
Last Modified: Jun 20, 2003
