Cool Schools

For those of you interested in the finer points of energy conservation at LCPS, I think you'll be interested in a memo that came across the Board's collective desk over the summer. The memo outlines temperature regulation in LCPS buildings with automation control (it doesn't specify which do not have automation control, but I can't imagine it's more than a few).

• During warm seasons, schools are cooled to 73 degrees.
• During cold seasons, schools are warmed to 69 degrees.
• A two-degree variation is possible. These temperature ranges are set in accordance with American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy (in case you were thinking that somebody at LCPS just made these numbers up).
• When buildings are not occupied (evenings, weekends, holidays) temps are allowed to vary between 55 and 85 degrees, but HVAC systems are never turned off.
• Buildings are divided into zones. I'm looking at a typical middle school floor plan, and it has eleven different HVAC zones.

The memo notes further that as in almost all cases, if a parent or student believes that their school is too warm or too cool, they should notify an administrator at that school.

Major Items for Board's Agenda This Week

The Loudoun School Board has just one meeting this month, on Tuesday the 12th. Our agenda is full of important items that many people will be interested in. You can see the proposed agenda or download the full Board Book (PDF) from the LCPS website. The four major items likely to generate the most attention are:

1. A report on a School Efficiency Reivew by MGT of America, Inc. conducted over the course of the past year at the initiative of the School Board. Representatives from MGT and the Governor's Department of Planning and Budget will present the findings jointly. The report will be distributed at the meeting. Board members will follow up with questions at a September meeting. This is the kind of independent, outside review that LCPS critics are perpetually calling for, so the results should be interesting.
   
2. The Board will consider a dramatic change to the LCPS Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee, implementing bylaws modeled on those of the Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents (LEAP). Veteran MSAAC members asked for the Bylaws but are asking the Board to make major modifications to the LEAP version.
3. The Board will hear a presentation on a recent in-depth assessment of Sustainable Design and Construction Practices in our existing school prototypes. This is a topic of great interest to many in the community and our Board of Supervisors.
4. The Board will consider a policy change proposal made by Leesburg representative Tom Marshall which would in essence make it easier for LCPS employees who live in Loudoun County to transfer their children to a different school, and to receive early notification of the result of their transfer request. I think it's important to find ways to offer benefits to LCPS employees, especially in years when budget constraints limit our ability to provide meaningful pay increases, and I will support this proposal.

Green School Buildings

I've been meaning to write this post since back in May, when we first received a briefing on "Green Schools" from Moseley Architects, one of the firms that does Architectural work for LCPS. At that meeting, we were presented with a report entitled "Greening America's Schools." This isn't a written post so much as my notes from that meeting.

• By designing LEED-certified schools it is possible to achieve 33.4% savings in energy and 32.1% savings in water, though Loudoun is already efficient and will save less.
  
• There is a 1.65% cost premium to build a LEED-certified school.
  

• Things LCPS is already doing
• Exterior Lights are “dark-sky compliant”
• 3-level classroom lighting
• Light turn-off programs
• CO2 detectors
  

• Recommendations:
• Reflective roofing
• Water-efficient landscaping
• Energy System Commissioning
• Enhanced refrigerant management
• FSC Certified Wood (renewable forest sources)
• Alternative transportation (hybrids, bicycles)
• Waste management – recycling construction waste
• Construction IAQ Management
• Open-Grid Paving
• Exhausted Air Energy recovery

Past Posts on this topic:
Is Green Design Right for Your Schools?
Recycling in Schools
LCPS Recycling Program
Recyclying Update
Energy Efficiency Briefing

Report #1 from Conference

As I mentioned last week, I attended the Governor's Conference on Education in Richmond, organized by the Virginia School Boards Association. It was a very brief affair, starting on Tuesday morning and ending after lunch. The morning consisted primarily of four half-hour sessions on 86 different topics. This week I will post my synopsis of the four sessions that I attended. These are the same documents I will provide to my colleagues on the School Board as we share with each other what we learned. If you would like more information about what topics were available or about the sessions I attended, please let me know or contact the Virginia School Boards Association.

Session I: Energy Conservation in Stafford County Public Schools
Presented by Robert Randall, Energy Manager, Stafford County Schools
Presentation:
Stafford County Schools entered into an Energy Performance Contract in 2006. The Contractor identified six Energy Conservation Measures which will save the district $400,000 annually in utility costs. These ECMs were descrbed by Mr. Randall as the “low hanging fruit” in their energy efficiency efforts. The program will payback in seven years and includes the Energy Manager’s salary.

Materials:
Mr. Randall provided a one-page briefing memo on the basics of the program, a by-school utility comparison summary, and an overview of how energy savings are calculated when energy costs are incurred over a variety of differently-priced energy sources.

Recommendation:
Loudoun County already has a similar Energy Performance Contract and is executing it, the School Board received a briefing on the program in May 2007. The Finance, Construction and Site Acquisition Committee should work with Staff to identify and fund opportunities for further energy conservation during the FY2009 budget development cycle to insulate LCPS against rising energy costs.

Recycling Update

I'm providing a link here to the recycling presentation that I referenced in the previous post, for those of you who want detailed information:

Loudoun County Public Schools Recycling Program

Of note:

• LCPS recycled 238 tons of paper, 21.6 tons of cans and bottles and 7,400 fluorescent tubes in FY2006. This is greater than the combined amounts recycled in the 10 years from 1993-2002.
  
• LCPS also recycles Toner Cartridges, Computer monitors, anti freeze and motor oil
• The net cost for the program in FY2006 was $5,500.
  

I visited Hamilton Elementary this morning and learned that by working together with parents to recycle toner cartridges and cell phones, they were able to raise enough money to buy two smart boards for the school! I hope other schools will contact Hamilton's TRT (Mrs. Neville), to learn how to implement the program.

Recycling in Schools

The Board received a presentation on Tuesday evening regarding recycling in Loudoun's schools. With nearly 60,000 students and personnel, LCPS is a major consumer of resources and collectively we can have a tremendous impact on the amount of waste sent to the county's Landfill. The presentation was made by Mr. Bill Kolster, who is the Director of Facilities Services. Mr. Kolster manages the recycling program, coordinating the effort among our 68 schools and various other facilities.

LCPS does not mandate recycling, and the level of participation is largely up to the staff at each individual school. That makes it remarkable that we now recycle more than 90% of the 8,000 fluorescent lights that burn out each year. In fact, the practice of recycling has grown so quickly that in the 2005-06 school year, we recycled more paper, bottles, lights and other materials than in the previous 10 years combined.

Many high schools have recycling clubs which encourage and manage the program at their own locations. Students who want to see their school do more should contact Mr. Kolster through their school's recycling club to get materials and support.

Recycling is largely a practice implemented by the staff, in particular the school custodians. The students, faculty and staff and Park View High School are particularly aggressive about their recycling and were recognized last fall for those efforts by Keep Loudoun Beautiful.

After applauding the progress and accomplishments already made in any are of our schools, a Board member must ask: What's the next step? What are the hurdles? How can we do better? The key to improving this program lie first in realizing that it has been implemented on the initiative of Mr. Kolster, school-based staff and students and the folks from the transportation department who provide extensive help along the way. This was not a Board initiative with policies and paperwork and unfunded mandates. This was not a new front office position paid for with taxpayer funds. This is just people making something happen, and a smart Board won't get in their way.

That said, I would like to see a plan to track how much recycling each school does of each commodity it recycles. Knowing how much we recycle allows us to set goals for annual improvement and test new ways of encouraging higher levels of recycling. One method of encouragement I would like to see is a competition between schools. I can envision an end-of-year "green school" awards ceremony for those schools with the highest rates or greatest improvement in recycling and energy savings.

I won't initiate a new top-down process, because the grass-roots process has worked so well, but ensuring that we don't plateau at our current level may require a budget allocation to be used for monitoring, for greater visibility, for cash awards to the principals funds and conservation clubs of schools who lead the way. I hope to see that in Dr. Hatrick's proposed budget this fall. I encourage local groups such as Keep Loudoun Beautiful, the Loudoun County Committee for a Sustainable Society and others to join in as well to ensure our success at improving upon this already great achievement.

Energy Efficiency briefing

At tonight’s Board meeting we received a presentation on Energy Education from John Lord & Mike Barancewicz, the LCPS energy efficiency team. If you have any interest at all in either energy conservation or saving tax dollars, you’ll be interested in this slideshow (Download: 3MB) . Three tidbits for you: First, LCPS consumes 100 Million Killowatt Hours per year, so even a small percentage change translates into a large cost savings. Second, we are ranked third in the nation energy savings among school districts nationally. Finally, we’ve saved over $20 Million since implementing energy saving measures several years ago that required changes in usage habits only, and required no additional investment.