With so many funding opportunities available, ESCOs can help K-12 districts attain their energy-saving goals.
Enough ways to fund energy saving projects exist for K-12 school districts that even people who work on this exact thing for a living sometimes have a hard time keeping up with what’s available.
During an education session at the recent National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) conference, a panel of energy experts discussed opportunities for K-12 schools to complete energy saving projects, with an emphasis on finding and benefiting from all the funding avenues out there.
Three important factors typically serve as roadblocks to completing those projects: not enough people, not enough time and not enough money.
One area that school district facility managers can use to work through those issues is with an energy savings performance contract (ESPC). By partnering with an energy savings company (ESCO), school districts can get the help that they need to accomplish their energy conservation goals.
The need for funding and improving school conditions is dire, according to Reilly Loveland, associate director of the New Buildings Institute.
“The average age of our schools is 49 years old,” she says. “Our facilities are not in great shape. Infrastructure got a D-plus grade (in a recent survey), and schools will need at least $370 billion for deferred maintenance through 2029.”
Citing another report, Loveland says one-third of schools in the country need to update their HVAC systems. One positive that emerged out of the COVID-19 pandemic was the increased importance of improving indoor air quality (IAQ) both in schools and other commercial and institutional facilities.
But how can schools maximize their savings potential, both to lessen their impact on the budget while achieving the best possible energy savings results? ESCOs are a way for those schools to make sure they’re doing everything they can to take advantage of financial opportunities.
ESCOs can, “guide school districts through the process, because (some districts) don’t have tax advisors, or people who know about energy storage,” says Phoebe Beierle with the Center for Green Schools. “There’s a ton of money out there, applying for it is super complicated, and all these entities have money for all these different projects.”
Federal funding for clean-energy programs includes options such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), loan funding and grants. How districts and what projects qualify for specific funding can be a challenge for school districts to navigate. An ESCO can help assure districts that the proper paperwork is filed and every opportunity available is being pursued.
Loveland described four ways that ESCOs can help:
- Help develop a long-term plan for saving energy.
- Train staff and students on how to work controls.
- Document accomplishments to share what savings are realized.
- Share success stories with peers and the public.
One significant issue that Loveland sees with school districts is that many lack the capacity to implement energy-saving projects and find the funding to see projects through. The concept of fund stacking – or finding a number of different options to close funding gaps – can be taxing on the facilities staff.
“Funding stacking can exhaust a school staff – applying to this, applying to that, putting this in, being creative, bringing in this stakeholder or that stakeholder. They just don’t have the staff because of so many different competing priorities,” she says.
Some of the common stacking mechanisms that school districts can use to see a project through include local bonds or levies; state matching funds; utility incentives; securing low-interest loans; applying for grants; power purchase agreements; ESPCs; and creativity, which can involve a combination of all the options presented.
An ESCO can help make that process easier for the districts and enable facility managers to feel comfortable knowing the right decisions have been made to save money – and energy – down the road.
By Dave Lubach, Executive Editor
Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facility market and has more than nine years of experience writing about facility management and maintenance issues.
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