Plug Smart Works With St. Clairsville Schools to Capture Energy Savings Now and for the Future

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Plug Smart collaborated with St. Clairsville-Richland City School District to upgrade its high school and connector buildings, helping the district take advantage of exclusive State of Ohio energy-efficiency grants, resolve comfort complaints, and establish future energy savings. As the first partnership between Plug Smart and the district, this project addressed issues caused by aging infrastructure, increased maintenance costs, inconsistent temperatures throughout the facilities, and outdated light fixtures and controls.

 

In response, Plug Smart's solutions-driven energy management team helped the district achieve savings through advanced control strategies in both buildings. Seeking more efficient lighting, the team upgraded all interior and exterior lights to LED which reduced lighting energy consumption by 75 percent in the high school and 55 percent in the connector building. The district achieved additional savings by installing motion sensors in select areas of both buildings as well as upgrading boilers, adding advanced climate controls, and retrofitting the kitchen ventilation system.

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Plug Smart also added value by installing a Lightcloud-enabled lighting system in the gym, a creative solution allowing school staff to set unique thematic scenes in the space and provide more versatility for its use. Additionally, the team uncovered and corrected mechanical efficiency improvements to valves, actuators, and other equipment to ensure the buildings were operating with maximum energy efficiency. 

 

While upgrades of this magnitude come with significant expense, the cost of inaction would have been significantly higher, which was a deciding factor for Dr. Walter E. Skaggs, St. Clairsville's superintendent. He said, "By choosing to work with Plug Smart to improve our school's outdated facility systems, our initial investment will save our district money over the years to come." St. Clairsville-Richland City School District would have spent nearly $5 million on utility costs over the next 20 years had they not upgraded these facilities. Instead, its decision to move forward with the upgrades will save over $51,000 in year-one and nearly $1.4 million over the same time period.

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Plug Smart continues to assist Ohio school districts with capital improvement projects that optimize the learning environment while saving energy and expense. School district administrators interested in addressing issues with aging infrastructure ahead of the 2020-2021 academic year can contact Will Lytwyn, Plug Smart's VP of Project Development K-12 Team Leader, at (614) 420-5443.