Last one out, turn off the lights. That cry won’t be heard anymore in the Lawrence Township public schools, because many of the light fixtures — in the gyms, the hallways and classrooms
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Last one out, turn off the lights.
That cry won’t be heard anymore in the Lawrence Township public schools, because many of the light fixtures — in the gyms, the hallways and classrooms — have been replaced and hooked up to “occupancy sensors” that automatically turn the lights on and off.
That’s compliments of Public Service Gas & Electric Co.’s “Direct Install” energy conservation program, according to school district Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge. The project was completed during the summer.
Mr. Eldridge said he learned of the program through Bouldin Hitchcock, who is the school district’s director of facilities and property. School district officials contacted PSE&G, which arranged for an authorized contractor to tour each school building and recommend energy-savings measures.
”The contractor made a list (for) each building, plus the cost of installing the (energy-saving measures) and the savings it would bring, and we found it was favorable. PSE&G paid 80 percent of the total cost, and we pay 20 percent of the cost over two years — interest-free,” Mr. Eldridge said.
The Direct Install project cost was pegged at $486,241, but the school district is paying $97,248. PSE&G is picking up the rest of the tab for the project, which involves the seven school buildings and the central administrative office building.
Some of the energy-savings measures called for removing high energy-consumption light fixtures in the gyms, the cafeterias and the hallways, Mr. Eldridge said. They were replaced with light fixtures that consume less electricity and that also have occupancy sensors, which means the lights are turned on when motion is detected in the vicinity. They turn off when no motion is detected.
At the Lawrence Middle School and Lawrence High School gyms, for example, only the lights that are needed to illuminate that part of the gym that is being occupied would be turned on, Mr. Eldridge said. There are times when only a certain portion of the gym is being used, and that’s the part that would be illuminated.
The savings gained through the lighting retrofit program is only one example of how the Lawrence Township public school district has saved money on its utility bills, according to school district officials. The district has saved money by generating about 25 percent of the electricity that it uses through roof-mounted solar energy panels.
The school district also has generated nearly $2 million from the sale of solar energy credits in three years, thanks to the hundreds of solar panels installed on the roofs of the seven school buildings. Voters approved a $10.5 million bond referendum to install the solar panels in 2008.
The owners of solar energy systems may “sell” the energy generated by the panels to utility companies, known as solar renewable energy credits. Energy producers are required to produce a specific number of units of energy in a sustainable form. If the energy producers cannot do so, they can buy credits — SRECs — through brokers.
The school district earns one SREC for every 1,000 kilowatt hours that the solar panels produce. The price of SRECs varies, depending on supply and demand.
The first batch of SRECs that went to auction in March 2010 sold for $674 per SREC, but the price has been as low as $86 in January 2013.
Meanwhile, the revenue from the sale of SRECs has exceeded the principal and interest payments to date by more than $1.3 million, Mr. Eldridge said. The savings in utility costs also is factored into that number.