NISD\'s comprehensive energy management program saves costs and the environment

Northside\'s Energy Management Program has been in place for 16 years and has saved the District taxpayers more than $20 million in energy costs. That\'s more than $1 million a year that goes to educating students instead of utility companies.

NISD\'s Energy Management Program, led by Bruce Dschuden and Frank Thomas, operates on several fronts.

• For example, NISD played a leadership role in the development of a pilot program with the San Antonio Water System (SAWS) to replace school toilets with low-flow toilets. The toilets were replaced for free by SAWS and have saved the district $200,000 annually on its water bill. The program since has been expanded to other school districts in the SAWS service area.

• The District also actively pursues credits from SAWS for water breaks or leaks in the system. As an incentive to save water, SAWS will provide rebates for up to 50 percent of the losses once the leaks have been repaired. Northside netted more than $18,000 in rebates during the 2005-06 school year.

• And, the District ‘s energy managers review electric bills monthly to catch billing errors that unfortunately commonly occur.

• In addition, Northside has one of the largest energy management control systems in the country. The networked system enables the Energy Management department to control outside lighting and heating and air-conditioning at over 100 schools and facilities via computer. It gives the district the capability to turn off this equipment on holidays, after-hours and when schools are not in use.

• And Energy Management saves more than just water and electricity. The department collaborated with Technology Services Department to develop a unique, on-line program for scheduling the 6,000-plus events that occur at district facilities after-hours every year. The program completely eliminates the use of paper in the scheduling process, allows for scheduling multiple events at one location thus savings energy costs and accounts for a large portion of the energy dollars saved by NISD annually.

"It is important," says Jim Martin, Assistant Superintendent for Facilities, "that we constantly evaluate our energy consumption and implement ways to effect costs savings for NISD taxpayers." He adds that it is also important for us as adults to model effective energy management for the students that we serve.