Schools

$8.9 Million Energy Savings Plan Gets Initial OK from School Board

Major improvements to cut energy usage and costs are planned across the Cherry Hill school district under the plan.

Sixteen schools across Cherry Hill are in line to get new boilers, and the district plans to install lighting controls, new hot water pumps and power optimization controls as part of an $8.9 million energy savings plan given the initial OK by the school board Tuesday night.

Originally proposed as an $8.2 million project that engineers projected would save the district nearly $370,000 per year, the price tag jumped about $700,000, due in large part to asbestos remediation costs, district spokeswoman Susan Bastnagel said.

Otherwise, minus two pieces—computer monitor replacements and an air handler replacement at Kilmer Elementary’s library—the project is essentially the same as what was presented to the board back in January, when representatives from Concord Engineering outlined its potential benefits.

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“We’re not just going in and touching the energy users, which are the boilers and the pumps,” said Tom Xenakis, Concord’s commercial vice president. “We’re really going in and being strategic with the plan on how to attack it…it’s really a gut, so that you can check this off the list and know going forward that the boiler plant in these schools is there, and will be there for the next 30 years.”

The district has opted for a lease-purchase agreement to cover the cost of the project, which will be partially paid for by the savings created and partially out of the district’s capital improvement fund.

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The full scope of the project is a major accomplishment, said Jim Devereaux, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, especially given what the schools have done in terms of capital improvements over the last several years.

“While this work is very important to the day-to-day operations of our schools, it represents only a small portion of the overall cost needed to upgrade our district facilities,” he said in a statement.

The plan and its financing will get a public hearing and be up for final vote on May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Malberg Administration Building.


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