The Birmingham school system saved nearly a half-million dollars on utility bills in just four months

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The Birmingham school system has saved nearly a half-million dollars on utility bills in just four months under a new energy management plan the board approved during the summer.

The contract with Midsouth Controls -- overseen by Volkert & Associates, the district's construction management company -- called for monitoring the 10 schools with the highest utility bills: Carver, Jackson-Olin, Wenonah and Woodlawn high schools, Phillips Academy, Minor and Robinson elementary schools, Hudson and Ossie Ware Mitchell K-8 schools and Wilkerson Middle School.

Thermostats at each school were set at 73 degrees for the cooling system, said Bob Morgan, director of capital projects for Birmingham city schools. Each teacher is allowed a 2-degree variance, meaning the thermostat in each classroom can be turned up or down 2 degrees.

For the heating system, thermostats are set at 70 degrees, he said, also with a 2-degree variance for teachers.

The thermostats are on timers, run only from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are cut off on weekends unless there is an after-hours event at the school, Morgan said.

That, alone, amounted to a savings of $416,506 from August to November.

Another utility-savings project in place involves water and sewer, Morgan said.

The school district received a $143,922 grant in 2010 from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs that it matched for a total of $287,844. With the money, the district was able to install the Bon Aqua Chemical Free Water Treatment System on the cooling towers and chillers in nine schools over the summer.

With those improvements, over the same four months, the district has saved 4.6 million gallons of water and reduced its water and sewer bill by $46,256, Morgan said.

Together, those improvements have saved the district $462,762 from August to November.

"I'd say the district implemented a vigorous initiative for utility savings, and as indicated by just 10 schools, there has been a substantial amount of money saved in just four months," Morgan said. "We plan to broaden it to all 51 schools, and will be monitoring those schools to see just how much money it will save district-wide."

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