WLCS saves $14M over 10 years with energy efficiency

A 33-percent cut in energy expenditures has saved the Walled Lake Consolidated School District more than $14 million over nearly 10 years, the district announced.

The savings came from an alliance with Cenergistic, a national energy conservation company, which will present district Superintendent Kenneth Gutman with its Chairman’s Sustainability Award at the Board of Education meeting tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 1.

The district claims it saved $14.18 million in energy costs over a 102-month period by implementing Cenergistic’s “comprehensive organizational behavior-based approach” to energy conservation at all levels.

The energy management program involves working with the company to analyze every energy use point in the district in order to devise a plan to use energy wisely while eliminating waste, according to the district. Energy specialists reviewed energy use, updated plans and programs and seasonal energy usage patterns and performed energy audits to ensure that proper conservation practices were used throughout the system.

To measure and verify the program’s success, energy specialist Melinda Miller tracked energy consumption — including electricity, water, sewer, natural gas and fuel oil — by using energy accounting software. She then compared current energy use to a baseline period and calculated the amount of energy that would have been used had conservation and management practices not been implemented.