Derby Public Schools

Strategic Energy & Maintenance Program: Deferred Maintenance and Capital Planning

Strategic Energy & Maintenance Program

Derby Public Schools partnered with Performance Solutions to create a program to address deferred maintenance issues and comfort levels in the classroom. Through mechanical repairs, capital planning and deploying a Building Intelligence Program, the district has laid the foundation for a long-term solution to manage their asset portfolio.

Challenges

The growing list of deferred maintenance items for both the mechanical equipment and the building automation system required an on-call maintenance team to address work orders every day. Additionally, the district knew that these deficiencies and an aging heating infrastructure were causing excessive energy consumption. With little room in the annual budget, the district was caught in break-fix cycle.

Solution

Mechanical Repairs and Upgrades

Our team repaired and recommissioned equipment in 14 of Derby’s schools and district buildings. This included replacing filters, repairing VAV boxes, cleaning chilled and hot water coils, calibrating sensors and replacing valve actuators. Another key step was upgrading the middle school steam infrastructure, which was failing and had been causing maintenance staff to spend time daily resolving emergency calls. By converting the system from steam to hot water, leaks ceased and work orders decreased significantly. This allowed the maintenance staff to focus on preventive maintenance rather than responding to trouble calls.

Deferred Maintenance and Capital Planning

Due to limited state funds, the district is operating with a lean maintenance staff and lean capital budget. To assist the staff in being more efficient, we implemented a Computerized Maintenance Management System and assisted in establishing a realistic preventive maintenance and work order process. Additionally, we performed a district Facility Condition Assessment that is web-based so it is used for prioritization of needs and can run different capital plans based on funds available.

Building Intelligence Platform (BIP)

To improve district data analytics, we implemented our Building Intelligence Program (BIP). The building information from BIP enables maintenance staff to make informed decisions on facility operations thus improving service quality. As part of this program, the district utility information is automatically loaded into a web portal that they can access, showing weather normalized utility comparisons for each building. Both of these technologies make district operations transparent to track program performance and to make informed decisions moving forward.

Results

The Derby Public School’s Strategic Energy & Maintenance Program resulted in 16% district-wide energy consumption reduction. This includes a 36% decrease in natural gas consumption, a 10% drop in water consumption, a 2% reduction in electricity consumption and $323,000 in saving from facility modifications in year 1. Over the course of their 12-year program, Derby Public Schools is on track to save $4.5 million.