Climate and energy

The Salina school district, USD 305, is doing their part to manage their district’s budget while helping  Salina win the Take Charge Challenge.  According to facilities staff, the school district is saving energy and saving money  by taking some common sense steps:

• The district is having a demand meter installed by Westar at South High School and adjusting programming in the HVAC master computer control system to shed peak load on the AC chiller. This change will reduce both total consumption and peak demand. The success of this venture will be compared with Central High School and if the savings merit, the change will also be made at Central.
• The AC summer set points have been raised several degrees (up to 86 degrees) except in areas that are occupied.
• Manual on with automatic off light switching devices are being researched and will be tested in selected applications soon.
• As part of a restroom renovation at Sunset Elementary, motion-activated occupancy sensors are being installed to control the lights. When the sensor detects motion, the lights will turn on and stay on for approximately 10 minutes without reactivation.
• Six elementary schools will participate in the Westar “Efficiency Works for Education” program during the 09-10 school year.

Salina is one of six towns competing in CEP’s Take Charge Challenge – a year-long competition to see which town can reduce their electricity use the most.

In addition to the benefits that each resident will see in lower energy bills, the town that wins will receive a wind turbine, solar panels, or energy efficiency project for a public building!

Each town is competing in a light bulb switch contest at takechargekansas.org, a website designed by Salina-based Philips Lighting, that helps towns track the # of bulbs they’ve switched and the $ saved.

As of today, Kansans have saved over $70,000! Just by changing light bulbs!

- Eileen Horn, climateandenergy.org