G. Casey Cassidy
Roberto Clemente Middle School was constructed in 1977 in New Haven, Connecticut. It sits in the Hill district of the city and it is currently the learning environment for approximately nine hundred intermediate level students, receiving instruction, guidance and leadership from three principals and approximately seventy-five teachers. The physical plant is a large facility divided into three house areas. Having taught at Clemente for the past seventeen years, I’m as familiar with this building site almost as well as my own home. And understanding this familiarity with our complex site brings me to the realistic conclusion that implementing an energy—efficient savings program will pose a difficult challenge for our population given the large numbers of people who use our building Monday through Friday (almost one thousand) and given the design of the physical plant itself with the numerous exit/entrance doors (26), the case adjustment widows (116), sky lights (24), windows and an open area loading dock. But, however great the challenges, the opportunities to conserve and to save will most rewarding because we will make some changes, we will become more aware of our responsibilities in using our natural resources, and we will be able to make direct applications of these concepts in our daily lives. Moreover, students and teachers through out the city and the world(on internet) will be able to learn from our experiences.
The school building is a good place to start an experimental science unit because it is easily accessible, and it provides an inexpensive system to research. From an energy conservation perspective, students can study electrical maintenance, water and sewer expenditures, gas and oil consumption and the effect that human awareness and involvement has on controlling efficient levels of energy usage while maintaining adequate levels of comfortability.
Our first step in our classroom project will be to take an energy audit of our building. An energy audit is a scientific analysis of energy expenditures in a building. An auditor needs to have a knowledge of heating systems, building materials, and building use patterns. James Crenshaw, our building engineer, has agreed to work with us to discover areas of energy waste. He has agreed to share with us the physical and mechanical blueprints of Clemente School and to briefly explain them to us in a slide presentation. (He will have previously photographed the large scale prints).
Next, our committee classroom members will address teachers, (Special Planning and Management Team personnel) and students alike (student council members who represent individual classrooms) with informative workshops in an effort to involve building users in our conservation program. Our initial focus will be to reduce our electrical energy consumption. State regulations mandate that individual classrooms must have a minimum of fifty candle power lighting conditions. Many of our classrooms tested out at well over those minimum levels because of the numerous windows through out our complex. Although these windows provide additional light, the benefit is really a double—edged sword because for all the extra light that we receive, we also suffer a considerable amount of heat and air conditioning loss. A light meter which retails for approximately forty-five dollars is a very effective tool for determining the lighting levels in classroom settings. Perhaps arrangements could be made to have copies of Clemente’s electrical billings shared with our committee members each month so that we could ascertain percentages of decreased or increased consumption. These reports would serve to give us a better handle on the effectiveness of our conservation efforts.
Custodial help in our study is a key component. Their help will be elicited to remove excess lights and ballasts to bring lighting conditions down to new state recommended levels. They will also monitor oil usage closely by checking to see that building temperatures are always set back one hour before the close of school daily. At monthly meetings with their New Haven Board of Education maintenance supervisor, they will receive instructions on how to manage their heating systems most efficiently. On days when warm temperatures are forecasted, furnaces should not be turned up to sixty-five degrees in the morning, anticipating that the sun will warm the building sufficiently. Additionally, furnaces should be cleaned on a regular basis and air conditioning should be limited to occupied areas of the complex only.
Our classroom committee members will play a vital role in managing our water consumption as they will monitor our sinks, toilets, and faucets on a daily basis, canvassing for leaks or broken equipment. Routes and checklists will be designed and two person teams will be assigned and rotated to monitor this situation. These teams will also check to secure our entrance/exit doors to help with our air infiltration system.
Art class projects designing informative energy conservation posters will help to remind our building users of the vital importance of their help in the ultimate success or failure of our efforts. Because Clemente School is involve with a community-based after school program, we might organize a camera club to photograph or videotape our successful energy saving efforts and we might highlight our poster designs with the dollars and energy saved.
Having discussed energy conservation proposals which can be initiated at Clemente involving little or no cost, it is time to turn our attention to areas of building design. At the present, Clemente School is eighteen years old, having been dedicated in 1977. The physical, electrical and mechanical components of our school are at least eighteen years old and the technology or fuel efficiencies of these components can not possibly compare with today’s improvements. We might consider retrofitting our electrical ballasts and fluorescent bulbs with T-8 lighting systems. These fluorescent tubes are smaller in diameter then the older tubes and the electronic ballasts would replace the old magnetic ballasts. In a standard four tube, two ballast fixture (which is used in our classrooms), the old tubes and ballast consume approximately 185 watts. These can be replaced with four T-8 tubes and one electronic ballast consuming approximately 106 watts. This will save approximately 79 watts per fixture. Since Clemente has hundreds of fixtures, the savings would be substantial. T-8’s deliver the same amount of light as the older fluorescent tubes they replace. Although the initial cost of installation would be additional, this would be quickly offset by the energy savings cost and the longer life of the ballast. Additionally, it would be wise to investigate rebate programs which are available from our local utility, the United Illuminating Company. These rebates could substantially reduce the initial cost of replacement equipment, making the option to convert all the more enticing.
As for windows, windows lose heat approximately ten times as fast per square foot as do walls or roofs. Even a moderate window area can account for forty percent of the total heating bill. One of the ways to minimize heating efficiency is to minimize this avenue of heat loss. Storm windows, insulated glass (thermopane), or some other method of double glazing is highly recommended. This one step will cut the heat loss through the window in half. Even with double glazing though, windows will still pour out heat at night or on overcast days when there is no compensating solar heat gain. Heavy curtains drawn at night can go a long way towards solving this problem.
Air infiltration can account for energy loss as well. Infiltration means the actual flow of warm air out and cool air in during heating months and the juxtaposition during air conditioning seasons. This leakage can be around windows and doors or simply from opening and closing doors. Infiltration can represent anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of total heating/ cooling loss. However, there are several ways to moderately control this problem. Cracks around windows should be caulked yearly. Weather striping helps seal openings around doors and windows. A double door at all entry/exit areas would help prevent large masses of cold/warm air from coming in when people enter or leave. These infiltration precautions could help to lower our heating/cooling costs significantly.
It is important to recognize that all of these percentages vary according to specific building designs, traffic patterns, and types of mechanical systems employed at Clemente. However, by utilizing these suggestions constructively, our heating and cooling costs could be substantially reduced. Most importantly, our savings, both in terms of energy and dollars will take a united team effort. I remind everyone of the single hot water faucet in the teachers’ faculty lounge which became the basis for this entire project and the substantial loss of energy and dollars to our entire community. The savings are real both for us today and the people of tomorrow.