David Fischer, Sarah Fischer, Justin Roth, Emily Corr, and Ryan O’Neil

West Branch Community School District

West Branch, Iowa 523581

Total

Energy

Action

Management

What’s the environmental issue?

Energy inefficiency results in pollution emission into the environment as coal is burned to produce electricity. Seventy-one percent of our state’s electricity is generated by coal burning power plants. Burning coal releases harmful pollutants such as carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas), nitric oxide (acid rain), sulfur dioxide (smog), and mercury.

There are numerous businesses in our community of 2,200 people using inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting systems.

West Branch High School should include efficient technologies and renewable energy sources in the new gym addition being added on to our school. Energy efficient upgrades should be made in the existing school building.

Team Member Responsibilities

David

•Research renewable energy – solar •Schedule an energy audit of the school•Develop tri fold brochures on ways people can be more energy efficient •Develop a website with information on energy efficient technologies and renewable energy sources

Ryan

•Research renewable energy--wind•Working with one business to develop plans to upgrade to efficient T8 lighting system.•Develop a document to share with other schools.

Justin

•Schedule an energy audit of the school•Bring a consultant to the Animal Clinic to upgrade lighting to energy efficient lighting •Develop tri fold brochures on ways people can be more energy efficient

Sarah

•Schedule an energy audit of the school•Write news articles for school newspaper •Develop tri fold brochures on ways people can be more energy efficient

Emily

•Coordinate an environmental summit• Working with one business to develop plans to upgrade to efficient T8 lighting system.•Develop a document to share with other schools

Everyone

•Schedule an audit with local businesses (counting lights in 19 businesses)•Make presentations to administrative/decision making groups

Measuring success

Our team’s success will be measured through the difference we make in energy savings in our community. Each business that upgrades from T12 to T8 fluorescent lighting will be a success.

Each energy efficient technology used in the new school addition shows success.

Each energy efficient upgrade in the high school shows success.

Each article published on the topic will be a success for public education.

Quantifying impact

We will quantify our impact by using calculation systems to determine energy decrease, savings in coal burned and pollutants emitted, savings per month and pay back in months. We will use this for each business that upgrades to an efficient T8 lighting system.

We will quantify our impact by the number of energy efficient technologies that are utilized in the new building addition at the high school. We will also quantify our impact through the number of energy efficient technologies that are upgraded in the 34 year old high school building.

Implementing Our Ideas

We educated ourselves on solar energy and wind energy, including the

use of photovoltaic systems and wind turbines as alternative energy

sources.

We met with local and state experts

Chris Crull, Crescent Electric Company, to learn about theoretical

formulas for financial and environmental savings and verify their

accuracy

Local Bank loan officer, Ed Larew, of Community State Bank to learn

about self liquidating loans for businesses improvement projects

Curt Klaassen, Iowa Energy Center, and Linda King, Iowa Office of

Energy Independence, to learn about retrofitting programs in Iowa

Larry Young, A-Tec Recycling, to learn cost of recycling T12 bulbs

and magnetic ballasts

I-Renew person to learn about photovoltaic cells

Kristin Cohenour, Alliant Energy, to learn about West Branch High

School’s energy consumption

David Werner, Michaels Engineering, to identify energy savings in

our school through an energy audit

West Branch Community School’s Maintenance Director, Chad

Federlien, to learn about the inner workings of the high school and

how systems work

Implementing Our Ideas (Continued)

We learned about software that computes savings when switching from less to more efficient lighting systems. Additionally, we used three mathematical methods to verify the theoretical calculations.

We visited all 19 businesses in our community to conduct a lighting survey to determine use of inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting systems. We then calculated the potential energy saving opportunities and the environmental impact of implementing efficient T8 fluorescent lighting for these businesses using General Electric’s Eco Estimator Software.

We met with a loan officer to learn about self-liquidating loans based on the saving differences between lighting systems that could be used to help interested businesses upgrade their lighting systems.

We contacted an electric utility company that conducted an energy audit at the high school. Through this audit we worked to identify changes that could be made throughout the school, but especially in the planning of the new addition.

We met with architects designing the new gym addition to the West Branch High School to discuss energy saving ideas for the addition.

Sharing What We Learned

Sharing what we learned:

Sarah Fischer, news editor of the school newspaper, wrote three articles to share information about these opportunities.

The West Branch Times carried two articles about our team’s activities, providing further community education

Our team presented energy audit findings along with recommendations to the school board

Our team set up an environmental and energy legislative summit to present our ideas to our legislators like state legislators Jeff Kaufmann and Congressman Dave Loebsack.

Our team is developing a document to share with other schools that encourages conduction of energy audits and energy saving activities could be implemented in those schools

We developed a website https://sites.google.com/site/totalenergyactionmanagement/

We presented to the City Council about the inefficient T12 lights in city buildings and the opportunity to upgrade to more efficient lighting as well as developing a city code requiring new construction to install energy efficient lighting.

The Results

We have identified 13 businesses with T12 lights and persuaded 3 of them to retrofit

Our efforts have saved the Animal Clinic around 7000 kilowatts and $830 per year

Brightness at the Animal Clinic has increased on average 235% across the facility

Hy-Vee has taken action too, saving about $65,000 and 1.3 million kWh per year

We have found $9,620 and 68,510 kWh in savings each year with our energy audit at the high school.

Animal Clinic Savings

kWh 6,919

Monthly $69.19

Annual $830.27

Brightness Change at Animal Clinic (Lumens)

T12 T8

Lobby 45.9 100.6

Offices 44 100.2

Back Hall 10 72.5

Operating Room 56 130.6

X-ray Room 15 40.2

Lighting Systems in Local Businesses

Herb ‘n’ Lou’s T8 & T12

Counting Line Salon T12

Main Street Antiques & Arts T12

West Branch Ford T12

Presidential Inn T12

Cats & Dogs Antique T12

Ye Old Main Street Sweets T8 & T12West Branch Emporium T12

Enlow Building T12

Old Bank T12

Agave T12Stoolman’s Repair T12

Bethany Church T12 & T8

Jack and Jills T8 BP and Quiznos T8

Community State Bank T8

Kum & Go T8

Can Two Food Brokage T8

WBCSD T8

Animal Clinic T8

West Branch High School Savings

$ kWhCO2

(Tons)SO2

(Tons)NO & NO2 (Tons)

Coal (Tons)

Hg (tons)

$9,620 68510 46 398 195 22 1023

Hy-Vee Upgrading Savings

# of Fixtures

Cost per Fixture

kWh Saved Annually

Total Retrofit Cost

Energy Savings (Yearly)

Payback Time (Months)

CO2 (Tons)

SO2 (Tons)

NO & NO2 (Tons)

Coal (Tons)

Hg (mg)

592 $90 1,291,300 $53,280 $64,565 10 904 3.5 1.75 422 20,072

Challenges and Raising Awareness

We didn’t face too many problems during the project, only two stand out. The first is that it was hard to navigate through the school system and getting meetings set up. The second was the high up front cost of upgrading was a deal breaker for some businesses even though the payback time is 3-5 years.

We raised awareness the old fashioned way, going door to door. We visited every business in West Branch to educate them and perform the a simple lighting audit. To get kids to think about our project, we conducted a survey to test their knowledge and then later educate them.

What We Learned

What we learned:

• 27% of energy used in schools is from light use.

• West Branch High School uses 12% more energy than similar buildings.

• 33% of all businesses still have inefficient lighting.

• Iowa generates 71% of its electricity from coal.

• Burning coal produces mercury, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide and sulfur dioxide.

• Replacing T12 lights with T8 reduces energy consumption by up to 35%.

• Solar energy is anticipated to be a viable energy solution in 5-10 years.

• Payback time based on energy savings by upgrading lights is 3-5 years.

• Replacing pneumatic controls with electronic controls would save $5,000 to $15,000 per year at the high school.

• Installing a demand controlled ventilation system at the high school would cost about $7,000 but the payback would be complete in 2 years.

• Installing a gym air handling system would cost about $12,000 dollars but the payback would be complete in 2.8 years.

• Occupancy sensors can prevent lights from being left on.

• An astronomical clock in the high school parking lot will turn off lot lights when not needed.

What will we do with the winnings?

The money awarded to the school and teacher will be used to establish a fund at a local bank from which area businesses may receive a loan to upgrade inefficient lighting systems. The requirement will be that the savings difference between lighting systems will be used to pay back the loan. This will establish a revolving fund for other businesses to upgrade their lighting systems. Once all the lighting systems are upgraded in the community, the funds will be donated to the community food bank.

Students will use their scholarship money for college.

Project Gallery

http://www.wbbearonline.com/opinion/60/

http://www.wbbearonline.com/news/42/

http://www.westbranchtimes.com/article.php?viewID=6542

http://www.westbranchtimes.com/article.php?viewID=5344

Meeting with Loebsack at Summit

Working Measuring CO2 in gym

CO2 Meter

Project Gallery

Thermostat

Taped over air vent

Meeting with Loebsack at Washington D.C.

Metro ExpertMr. Do Yee

Science Czar- John Holdren

Electric panel for solar panels at Scattergood

Solar panels at Scattergood

Looking over plans with architectsMeeting with solar

panel expert

Noticing taped over air vent

Looking at new solar technology

Space heaters

Meeting with Jeff Kaufmann at Summit