PWCS Energy Management Division Shares Their Energy-Saving Mission

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The Energy Management Division will make its first presentation to the School Board Wednesday evening on the progress they have made in the last year

The School Board voted to establish the Energy Management Division last June to help their schools become more energy efficient and ultimately save the school system money.

Brian Gorham was made Administrative Coordinator of the division. He is a Certified Energy Manager and has a Certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Operations and Maintenance.

Gorham has a team of three former Prince William County science teachers: Jeanne Jabara, Bryan Conrad and Jennifer Rokasky. They serve as Energy Education Coordinators who frequent Prince William County School buildings, where they instruct educators on how to manage systems to keep energy costs low.

One of the ways they achieve this is by managing the HVAC systems.

“What we’re really trying to do is to scale back equipment operation during unoccupied hours," Rokasky said.

Teachers could shut off their lights when leaving the classroom and turn off their computers when leaving the building. They could provide feedback on the temperature in their rooms, which the team said is ultimately more efficient than opening doors and windows.

Coordinators visit schools in the early morning and late afternoon hours to determine the best time to start heating and cooling a school. However, they also work directly with educators, showing them how to manage energy more efficiently.

“We’ve had a lot of excitement from teachers. Marsteller Middle School had a shut-down audit and the school scored 100 percent effective on our audit sheet,” Jabara said.

They have even gotten younger students enthusiastic about conserving energy by penning fun energy conservation jingles, which students learn from their teachers. Where teachers are less than excited about changes, the team members believe they prefer to hear recommendations from fellow educators like themselves.

Each team member has been given a territory. It is his or her responsibility to expertly know the buildings in his or her territory, including the floor plans and strengths and weaknesses in terms of energy management.

“Every building is unique,” said Jabara, “it could be the same floor plan, even twin buildings.”

However, perhaps most importantly, their system guarantees savings. The energy company Cenergistic, with whom they partner, receives 35 percent of annual energy savings over the course of their five-year contract.

However, “PWCS was not obligated to share savings with Cenergistic for the first six months of the contract,” Gorham said, which is why he strove to make major changes “right out of the gate,” setting up automatic safeguards such as motion-sensor lights.

Tonight, Gorham will present to the Board, and citizens will get a sense of how successful the program has been to date.

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