Savings Without Flicking The Light Switch

By Eliza Hallabeck

Over each summer the schools are cleaned and maintenance work is completed; this summer was no exception. One project completed before the 2012-13 school year began last week was installing new occupancy sensors as a light saving technique in the elementary schools.

Occupancy sensors are already installed at Newtown High School, Reed Intermediate School, and Newtown Middle School, according to School District Facilities Director Gino Faiella.

“So they are new for the elementary schools,” he said.

The fixtures are a cost-savings initiative for the district, he said, and this was a product of a free audit of the schools done by Northeast Utilities.

“All the cost savings paid for the upgrades, so it was cost-neutral to the town,” said Mr Faiella.

School district Business Director Ronald Bienkowski brought the initiative forward after attending a workshop “a while back,” he said this week.

Mr Bienkowski explained there is a roughly four-year pay back period, and after that time there will be a drop in the electricity account. The workshop Mr Bienkowski attended was sponsored by both Yankee Gas and Connecticut Light & Power, and the district went through a company provided by Connecticut Light & Power to complete the project. The total cost for the project was roughly $124,400, and through the program, Mr Bienkowski explained, the company provides the financing for the project’s cost.

Mr Bienkowski said this project and other projects throughout the last year also saved the district money, listing the contracts for the district’s new bus company, All-Star Transportation, and a copier contract awarded in May.

Other maintenance projects completed over the summer, according to Mr Faiella, included removing the portable classrooms previously in place at Newtown High School’s front parking lot.

The district has also transitioned to using green cleaning products over the last year, following a state law being put in place.