LibGuides: Energy Efficient Schools Topic Hub: Operations

Facilities Management

This section contains detailed information on energy management issues in a variety of zones within the school (parking lots, restrooms, hallways, classrooms, and other school zones). It involves every aspect of the school's energy using equipment.

An effective energy management policy, whether building specific or district wide, requires:

awareness of energy savings opportunities;
understanding of budgets and financial structures and district expectations and policies;
development of or access to staff training programs;
expertise and knowledge about how to make changes;
access to energy consumption information (usually found in energy bills);
familiarity with building equipment and facility energy systems.

A walk-through of the building by maintenance can determine the building's use and schedule of use, procedures for shutdown during unoccupied periods, and lighting levels and appropriate locations of sensors. It can also be used to identify cracks that allow outside air inside.

A walk-through that assesses energy consumption and user behaviors provides a quick overview of the school's energy use and needs.

Operations staff can conduct these in less than a day and the results from identifying energy issues in key areas of the school can lead to numerous possible actions.

The following chart provides a snapshot of positive actions and outcomes:

Area	Energy issue	Possible actions
Portable Classrooms	Poor circulation, noisy air conditioners, water entry and mold	Outdoor air needs to be supplied continuously using an outdoor air kit
Kitchen	Heat build up from cooking	Use fan hood only when cooking, reduce pre-heat time, clean coils on refrigerators, and time use of mixers and small electric appliances for when ovens/stoves are not in full use. Newer energy efficient air conditioners can help cool kitchen area and ceiling fans or vents should be used to draw heat out.
Kitchen	Electricity	Use ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators, freezers, ice machines, and vending machines, as well as commercial food service equipment such as hot food holding cabinets, fryers and steam cookers.
Gymnasium/Auditorium	Lighting	Pulse-start lamps take less warm-up time, energy-efficient skylights for daylight, timers, more efficient bulbs such as T-5 HO Systems in combination with reflectors.
Parking Lot	Lights	Communicate with staff and anyone reserving the school for evening community events that parking lot lights (on poles) will automatically be off after a designated time. Use motion sensors to provide lighting on an as-needed basis.
Restrooms	Lights on when room is not in use	Installation of light controls and occupancy sensors in restrooms, but remember to consider the height of the students using the space. Passive infrared sensors detect body heat, while ultrasonic sensors react to sounds. Automatic controls in other spaces also eliminate unnecessary energy consumption.

Essential Links

Top 10 Energy Efficiency Tips for Schools
From the Alliance to Save Energy
CampusERC
The Campus Environmental Resource Center--CampusERC--is intended to be a great library of resources to support campus environmental performance improvement. Developed collaboratively by NACUBO, C2E2, CSHEMA, APPA and the EPA, the primary audience is staff, administrators or faculty who are looking for resources to better understand environmental regulations, find relevant contacts, seek model practices, track news or build and manage better environmental programs.
Case study: Skylighting in Schools - A Healthy Advantage
Older schools in this district were built with few windows, and students complained they felt "claustrophobic." Based on these comments, as well as concerns about energy efficiency, the school board decided that natural light was essential to the learning experience. In the early 1980s they directed architects to maximize natural lighting in all new buildings. Numerous documents on lighting, skylighting andn design considerations are available from this location.
The Center for Green Schools
Part of the U.S. Green Building Council, this center helps schools become more sustainable. Also provides information about LEED for schools.
CHPS Best Practices Manual
CHPS has developed and maintains a six-volume technical best practices manual for high performance schools. The manual covers planning, design, high performance benchmarks, maintenance and operations, commissioning and relocatable classrooms in high performance schools. The manual was developed through a consensus process with the assistance of school officials, state agencies, industry representatives and design professionals. CHPS periodically updates each volume of the manual.
CHPS in New York
The New York State Education Department (NYSED) published the New York High Performance Schools Guidelines (NY-CHPS 1.1) in 2007 as a voluntary Appendix to the NYSED Manual of Planning Standards. NY-CHPS adopts core CHPS Criteria and adds: Operations and Maintenance requirements and options, expanded Indoor Environmental Quality requirements and options, and Materials durability requirements based on life-cycle costs. NY-CHPS 1.2 (2009) references a more stringent NY Energy Conservation Construction Code and applicability to existing buildings.
Clean School Bus USA
The goal of Clean School Bus USA is to reduce both children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses.
Energy Design Guidelines for High Performance Schools--Cool and Dry Climates [PDF]
Energy designs included in this 88-page document includes case studies as well as site designs, daylighting, energy-effcicient shells, lighting, ventilation systems, water conservation, transportation and much more.
Energy Star for K-12 Districts
Estabishing a comprehensive energy management program, getting started with fact sheets, evaluating energy performance and much more will prove helpful for school administrators.
Environmental Design + Construction (ED+C)
Bi-monthly magazine covering the green building industry.
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF)
Created in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) provides information on planning, designing, funding, building, improving, and maintaining safe, healthy, high performance schools. The NCEF site provides extensive resource lists on various topics, which are grouped into the following broad categories: Preplanning, Planning, Design, School Spaces, School Grounds, Case Studies, Safe Schools, Healthy Schools, High Performance Schools
Portable Classrooms
Portable -- or "relocatable" -- classrooms have been a feature of many school districts for years. From a district's perspective, the two advantages of portable classrooms are low initial cost and short time between specification and occupancy. They are intended to provide flexibility to school districts, enabling quick response to demographic changes and providing the ability to be moved from one school to another as demographics change.
PowerSave Schools
Energy efficiency is the easiest, most cost effective way to reduce energy consumption, yet remains a challenge for many school districts. PowerSave Schools reduce consumption an average of 5-15% in one year through no-cost operations and behavior changes! Through the PowerSave Schools program students are empowered to grow as leaders, apply academic knowledge to solve the real-world challenge of increasing utility bills, and move their schools and communities toward a greener future with energy efficiency practices and measurable energy savings.
School Operations and Maintenance: Best Practices for Controlling Energy Costs [PDF]
Prepared by Princeton Energy Resource International, HPowell Energy Associates and the Alliance to Save Energy, this guidebook is designed for K-12 school system business officials and facilities managers. It is designed to meet the specific needs of school district staff for integrating energy efficiency into school building operation and maintenance by not only providing technical information, but also organizational information on barriers, challenges, and the necessary steps required to...
Smart Energy Design Assistance Center
The Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC) is designed to encourage for-profit small business owners, design professionals, and building contractors to incorporate renewable energy systems and energy conservation practices. SEDAC is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Community and Economic Opportunity and is managed by the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois and the 360 Energy Group.
UIUC LibGuide: Green/Sustainable Building
This reference guide includes links to both popular materials and more technical information. It is not an exhaustive list and it includes information that will help you continue research at your local library. Includes news; books and periodicals; products and services; associations and meetings; newsgroups and e-mail lists; and web sites. Pages or the entire guide may be printed for future reference and convenience. Developed and maintained by ISTC Librarian/GLRPPR Help Desk Laura Barnes