Roanoke has partially funded this project through stimulus funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s stimulus State Energy Program, administered by the Alabama Department of Economic & Community Affairs energy division.
Under this contract, Schneider Electric will standardize the HVAC controls at the Handley High School and Handley Middle School by installing an energy management system and central workstation to control energy consumption of both the campuses.
The system has been designed to automatically turn off HVAC during times when the buildings are unoccupied and phase equipment startup in the morning to ensure minimal energy waste and cut energy costs.
The system upgrades are anticipated to result in more than $400,000 in energy cost savings under the terms of the 15-year contract, enabling Roanoke City Schools to completely fund the project out of money saved in energy and the ARRA-SEP grant.
Further, Schneider Electric expects this energy saving project, which is scheduled to be completed by 30 October 2010, to prevent over 530,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.
