Energy Engineering -
Project Design, Project Management and Energy Audit



The Energy Management Section engineering team evaluates energy consumption data, and is constantly looking for new ways to reduce energy use.

Rapidly evolving computerized energy management system technology is continuously opening up new methods to reduce consumption. Our engineers keep construction specifications up-to-date with the latest technology. Our mechanical engineering team designs new systems, replaces antiquated technology, and upgrades existing systems in order to extend their life.

Building Energy Audits: Facilities are audited by mechanical engineers who look for potential improvements in energy use, and develop & implement energy saving projects identified during the audits. Data is gathered from a variety of sources including utility bill databases, metering data, building benchmarking, control system historical trends, interviews with building staff, and field observations. Projects are prioritized based on their potential financial payback and those with the best payback are implemented.

The Energy Management Section technical staff also provides in-house formal and informal training sessions to school-based custodians, school-based operating engineers, and HVAC maintenance technicians.

Typical recent engineering projects include:

• Upgrading and optimizing the control sequences in a 700 ton chilled water plant in order to capture additional savings from a water side economizer.
• Optimizing run hours of air handling units.
• Installing sub-metering on cooling tower and field irrigation systems.
• Installing motion sensors on lighting circuits to automatically turn off lights.
• Replacing time-clock controls with web based EMS control systems.