Although school is out for summer, it is no time to take a break from thinking about school building performance. Most school buildings have reduced occupancy during the summer months and many undergo cleaning, construction and renovation projects during the break.

School facility managers should use this summer season to maintain efficiency and ensure building systems are in top shape when students return.

During the summer, facility managers should focus
on updating their summertime operation and
maintenance (O&M) plans and make sure personnel
are informed about the tasks and procedures.

High Performance Schools
High performance schools, with properly designed and maintained heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) and control systems, improve the learning environment while saving energy, resources  and money.

Energy Cost Benefits
With increased attention being paid to green building and methods to reduce energy consumption in the U.S., a heightened awareness has developed among school administrators of the various benefits of building green. In most U.S. school districts, utilities are the second largest budget item after personnel related items, according to the Department of Energy. In the U.S., this totals more than $6 billion spent on energy by schools nationwide. Unfortunately, about 25 percent of the energy used in a typical school is wasted because of inefficient building systems and operations.

The troubled economy in the U.S. is creating further difficulties for schools grappling with tighter budgets and services that cannot be cut. Although this may cause some schools to forego capital improvement projects, efficient energy operations and building management is one primary method of achieving cost avoidance that schools should be looking to leverage. According to the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, a school renovation that incorporates high-performance design can net a 20 to 30 percent annual savings on utility costs.

Academic and Health Benefits
Improving student learning and creating great schools with high academic standards is of vital interest to educators and administrators in the U.S. and throughout the world. There are several factors that affect how students learn, but one important factor is the buildings themselves.

Not only do high performance schools save money, but research has shown that they bolster academic performance and improve the health of occupants. A significant number of students and teachers struggle with distractions including noise, glare, mildew, lack of fresh  air and hot or cold temperatures.

Children have greater susceptibility to environmental pollutants than adults because they breathe higher volumes of air relative to their body weights and their tissue and organs are actively growing. One adverse effect of poor indoor environmental conditions is asthma. The American Lung Association found that American children miss more than ten million days of school each year because of asthma exacerbated by poor indoor air quality (IAQ).

Much of the education that takes place in K-12 classrooms hinges on oral communication. Good acoustics is fundamental to good academic performance, particularly for children as they require optimal conditions for hearing and comprehension. According to the Acoustical Society of America, in many classrooms in the U.S., listeners with normal hearing can understand only 75 percent of the words read from a list.

Classrooms should be designed to reduce sources of noise hampering, such as outside traffic, foot traffic, conversation from the hallway and reverberation from within the classroom.

Improvements to Existing Buildings
Going green does not require all-new energy systems. There are several ways to create high performance schools by making older systems run more efficiently, saving the school capital, reducing risk of failure and maintaining the green sensibility that contributes to environmental health.

An Ounce of Prevention Equals a Pound of Savings
During the winter and spring, facility managers have identified major repairs that need to be done to heating equipment. During the summer, facility managers should focus on updating their summertime operation and maintenance (O&M) plans and make sure personnel are informed about the tasks and procedures. Some items to include in the preventative maintenance schedule:

• Replace and maintain filters regularly;
• Make sure all supply and return vents are clean and not blocked;
• Ensure drain pans properly drain;
• Check for piping damage and inspect condensate traps;
• Clean cooling and heating coils as necessary;
• Inspect plumbing and conduct any repairs immediately;
• Repair roof leaks and other sources of unwanted moisture;
• Repair any moisture damaged ceiling tiles.

New Construction and Major Renovation Projects
High performance schools can also be achieved through new construction or major retrofits. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) published an energy design guide in 2008 as a benchmark to build new K-12 schools that are at least 30% more energy efficient than current industry standards.

Some of the cutting-edge technologies that facility managers can consider during the summer months to improve energyefficiency include:

Ice Storage Systems: As opposed to a traditional air-conditioning system, an ice storage system is comprised of a dual-temperature chiller that operates in standard cooling mode during the day and in ice-making mode at night. The ice is stored in tanks and used to provide cooling to the building the next day during peak hours. This system improves the reliability of the power grid and saves energy by shifting peak cooling loads to off-peak hours. It also has substantial environmental benefits.
Solar Photovoltaic: Devices that use semi-conducting materials to convert sunlight directly into electricity. The price of solar technologies is decreasing, making it a more viable renewable energy solution.
Geothermal Systems: These devices transfer heat stored in the Earth or in ground water into the building during the winter, and transfer it out of the building, back into the ground during the summer.
Cogeneration: Makes use of the excess heat, usually in the form of relatively low-temperature steam exhausted from power generation. It is a highly efficient means of generating heat and electric power from the same energy source.

Summertime HVAC Operation
Facility managers should identify the best summertime operating settings for the HVAC system according to occupancy schedules. To conserve energy, cool only the spaces that are in use. However, it may not be prudent to turn off the HVAC system completely. Depending on the climate, it may be necessary to control humidity in unoccupied areas to avoid moisture build-up that can result in costly structural damage and indoor air quality problems.

Take Precautions during Construction and Cleaning
During construction projects, take measures to make sure dirt and dust do not get into HVAC equipment by simply installing temporary air filters on the return air grilles serving the areas under construction. Consider any necessary adjustments during painting or cleaning projects to assure fumes and odors do not get drawn through the occupied areas. Also, during carpet cleaning the HVAC system should be operating with additional fans for air circulation and possibly portable dehumidifiers for a period of time.

Summertime IAQ
The summer months are important to maintaining IAQ. Many schools face problems with humidity and mold, which can be dangerous to the school building and to the health of students when they return in the fall.

Older schools suffer the worst IAQ problems. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that schools built during the energy crisis of the 1970s have some of the poorest air quality, as they were designed to retain warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer, but have limited air circulation.

Do not let in the wet. The EPA recommends controlling relative humidity below 60 percent. Mold can lead to dust mites and cause illness to building occupants as well as structural damage. Check the building envelope and conduct repairs right away to avoid moisture from entering through window and door openings, seams, roofs or other openings.

Invest in humidity control. Be sure the HVAC system is designed to adequately control moisture in the building at all operating conditions, including unoccupied periods.

Assess IAQ. A walk-through of the building can target any potential areas where further IAQ testing is necessary, such as mold assessment or testing for toxic contaminants.

Energy Efficiency in the Summer
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 53 million children and about 6 million adults spend a significant portion of their day inside school buildings. Many of these buildings are old and in poor condition and often the indoor environment inhibits learning and poses health risks. This is hardly the ideal environment in which children, our most precious commodity should learn.

School facility managers should take measures during the summer to review and document last season’s energy performance of building equipment and target areas for efficiency improvements.

Programmable thermostats, web-based facility management systems, lighting sensors and carbon dioxide sensors are some examples of controls that can improve the indoor environment while saving energy.

Creating a comfortable, high performance environment for U.S. students and teachers can improve their performance and make education a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. Take advantage of the summer slowdown to get high grades for performance when things get back in swing this fall.

Maureen Lally is the market segment leader for Trane where she works to understand the needs of Trane’s education and healthcare customers and provide solutions that manage and control the indoor environment, thereby improving the performance of all who work in the building. Trane is the global leader in providing energy-efficient HVAC systems and solutions to schools and has provided services to education customers for over 50 years.

Back to top ▲