Louisville Municipal School District Trustees recently voted
to issue a RFQ (Request for Qualifications) for assistance in conducting an
energy audit of all school facilities. Trustees met with a representative of
one firm in their last scheduled meeting, who provided information concerning
the benefits of such an audit.
According to the Mississippi Development Authority’s (MDA)
Energy Division – “An energy audit is the first step towards saving money and
improving the energy performance of a public facility or building. Local
governments and educational institutions can save a significant amount of money
by upgrading their facility’s lighting and HVAC systems to more energy
efficient systems and sealing openings in the building envelope to close the
gaps where conditioned air escapes. An energy audit evaluates a building’s
energy use and prioritizes energy saving measures to help public officials develop
feasible, cost-effective energy projects.”
Oversight relative to the audit would be done by MDA who
certifies potential contractors. No funds would be committed unless a
sufficient energy savings could be documented and met. If energy savings are
proven to be sufficient to justify systems and lighting replacement, etc., low
cost long term financing would be available to the school. The energy savings
would have to meet or exceed the cost of modernizing any facilities.
Maintenance personel with the school informed board members
that the current boiler systems in three schools; Louisville High, Eiland and
Noxapater are not efficient and difficult to find vendors to repair and that
the electrical service was inadequate in some schools to handle some of the
newer technologies such as Prometheus boards.
