The West Independent School District in the town of West, Texas, is implementing $535,812 in facility enhancements designed to improve operations, comfort and efficiency at four campuses encompassing 332,211 square feet. TAC by Schneider Electric, the building management and energy services business of Schneider Electric, will complete the work as a performance contract with the district. TAC guarantees that West ISD will reduce its utility costs by $52,554 annually when the project is completed in November 2009.
Located in central Texas, 120 miles north of the state capital of Austin, West ISD serves more than 1,500 students in grades K through 12. TAC had already completed performance contracting project for the district when officials decided to add more functionality to the current control system and replace outdated heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment that used an environmentally harmful refrigerant.
“When we wanted to add individual overrides instead of zone overrides to our energy management system (EMS), we turned to TAC,” said Dr. Marty Crawford, superintendent of West ISD. “TAC has been a great energy partner for the district through the first performance contract. Because of our own commitment to energy efficiency, the district has saved even more than what the performance contract guaranteed. This is providing us with enough additional money to fund further projects and to save more energy.”
Performance contracting offers many long-term benefits for school districts, such as improved facility efficiency, occupant comfort, financial management and environmental protection. Typically, new, more efficient equipment and upgraded facility automation systems maximize energy efficiency and generate utility savings. TAC guarantees the amount of savings performance contracting projects will achieve and agrees to pay the difference if that amount is not realized.
For its second performance contract for the West ISD, TAC will upgrade the EMS to provide the consistent control of all facilities the district desires, including individual room control instead of zone control, and will replace 20 air conditioning units, some of which use now banned R22 refrigerant.
When completed, the environmental impact of both performance contract projects will be to avoid the release of 1.7 million tons of CO2, which is comparable to planting 21,000 trees or avoiding driving 1.7 million miles.
“Students and faculty at these West ISD schools will enjoy a better learning and working environment as a result of these facility updates,” said Shon Anderson, vice president of sales, TAC Energy Solutions. “The district will also have taken a major step toward being greener and set an example for the rest of the community of the importance of everyone doing his part to conserve energy.”
About TAC
TAC, the building management and energy services business of Schneider Electric, is a leading provider of solutions that deliver measurable business results to customers by enabling them to do more with less energy. With over 120 years of experience in the HVAC, energy and security arenas, TAC employs more than 8,000 people worldwide, with partners in 80 countries. TAC’s parent company, Schneider Electric, is the global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, offering integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including leadership positions in energy and infrastructure, industrial processes, building automation, and data centers/networks. Focused on making energy safe, reliable, and efficient, the company’s 114,000 employees achieved sales of more than 18.3 billion euros in 2008. For more information, visit www.tac.com and www.schneider-electric.com.
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