EDUCATION

Morenci Area Schools upgrading heating, cooling, lighting systems for energy savings

The Daily Telegram

Morenci Area Schools Superintendent Mike McAran talks Tuesday about the 18-year-old boilers that will be replaced at the high school as part of the district's energy-efficency upgrades.

MORENCI — If it wasn’t for the parts shortage brought on by the pandemic, Morenci Area Schools would be further along in the district’s project to install more energy-efficient lighting and heating and cooling equipment and it would be seeing lower utility bills.

Still, the district is expecting to complete the project by the end of 2022. The upgrades are expected to save more than $1.4 million in energy and operational costs over 10 years.

The $1.4 million in improvements are being funded by a state of Michigan energy bond, district general funds and federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The ESSER funds are part of the federal COVID-19 relief funds approved by Congress in 2020. The bond has a 13-year payback schedule.

“The district is going to see those savings way past the payback schedule, so the general fund is going to be better because of it,” district finance director Erica Metcalf said.

That will free up funds to pay for other things down the road.

Fluorescent lights in the former library at Morenci High School, which was converted to a large classroom so that standardized tests could be administered to large numbers of students, are noticeably dimmer than LED lights found in a couple of other classrooms. Lights throughout the district are being upgraded to LED.

The district had about $500,000 in general fund and ESSER funds to put toward the project and Metcalf worked with Standard & Poors to improve the district’s bond rating, Superintendent Mike McAran said. Both helped lower the bond amount.

Planned districtwide improvements include lighting controls, LED lighting upgrades, new building automation controls and an energy management system to enable heating and cooling systems upgrades.

The district is working with Trane Technologies on the work.

Some of the upgrades, like the lighting upgrades, will be readily apparent to visitors to the schools. Now, the hallways, restrooms and most of the classrooms have fluorescent lighting, and the bulbs aren’t always the same. Some might be made to give off light more like daylight, while others may be less yellow and more white. The new lighting will be more even and brighter, and the light-emitting diodes in the fixtures will use much less electricity.

Lights in Morenci High School science teacher Shelly Collins' classroom were earlier switched to LED fixtures, which are noticeably brighter and use less electricity than older, fluorescent lights. Lights throughout the district will be upgraded to LED in the district's energy-efficiency project.

Other changes will be less visible, such as the new boilers, rooftop air conditioning units and control valves. The new boilers in the high school will replace models that are 18 years old, and the new, stainless steel valves will replace old, galvanized valves. McAran said the new valves should be less susceptible to corrosion.

The upgrades also will create efficiencies for the district’s maintenance staff, Metcalf said.

“Putting those valves in will allow them to work on units without having to take the system down,” she said.

The new systems also will have modern controls.

“Not only are we able to install more efficient boilers, we’re able to run them more efficiently with the updated controls,” Metcalf said. “… What they’re able to do with the new program is really neat.”

Morenci Area Schools Superintendent Mike McAran looks at the plans for replacing the boilers at the high school on Tuesday. He said the plans had to go through a lengthy review by the state of Michigan.

For example, rooms that aren’t being used will be kept at cooler temperatures during the winter.

In the elementary school, wall air conditioning units in the classrooms will have ultraviolet air filters to improve indoor air quality, McAran and Metcalf said.

Trane works with local contractors, such as Adrian Electric and Generator Co. and Adrian Mechanical Services to do the work, Metcalf said.

The pandemic has, of course, caused problems with the work schedule. The boilers for the elementary school have been delivered, but they’re waiting on the controls to arrive before the boilers can be installed, McAran said.

“We’re the same as every other industry,” Metcalf said. “We’re waiting on parts and materials so they can come in and start. Before the pandemic and all the supply shortage had started, we as well as Trane had anticipated we would be well into replacing our lights by now. But simply because of the material shortage we’re having to postpone that.”

Fluorescent lights are seen Tuesday in a hallway at Morenci High School. The district is converting its older lights to LED fixtures as part of an energy-efficiency project.

The work will be done after hours, room by room, Metcalf said, to both let the district sign off on each room and to cause less disruption during the school day.

Parts are starting to trickle in, Metcalf said.

They’ve also had to take COVID-19 exposures into account when negotiating with Trane about the project.

“If we close because of COVID and they can’t work, who takes the loss? That was a big issue,” McAran said. “Our issue was, if we add time to what they have to do because we had COVID and had to shut, then we take the loss. But if they can’t get the workers because of COVID on their end or their subcontractors, why should we take the loss on that? That was like a week’s negotiated agreement. But you could be talking $100,000.”

Metcalf said she asked if Trane could bring people in to work if the district had to switch to remote learning and there wouldn’t be students in the building.

“I was shot down because they do not have all of the material yet,” she said.

The high school gym’s lighting was switched to LED about five years ago, McAran said, but those lights might also be switched to newer models.

The LED lights in the Morenci High School gym are about 5 years old, but they, too, could be replaced in the district's energy-efficiency project if it will save the district money in the long run, Superintendent Mike McAran said.

“We’ll be looking at whether we can save money by redoing those lights,” he said.

The administrators are looking forward to having the more-efficient equipment installed.

“We’re hoping as soon as they get started we can save money on energy costs,” McAran said. “But right now, by not starting …

“… We’re delaying those cost savings,” Metcalf said.