Contracts enable K-12 schools to fund current much-needed projects with future energy savings
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 20, 2014) – Harshaw Trane has surpassed $100 million in guaranteed energy savings contracts with Kentucky and Southern Indiana schools, with the signing of a $14.9 million agreement with Christian County Schools in Hopkinsville to implement several energy conservation measures in the district. Harshaw Trane previously has entered into similar contracts with nearly 30 other school districts in the commonwealth and Southern Indiana.
Guaranteed energy savings contracts allow Harshaw Trane, one of the largest energy services company in Kentucky, to work with school districts to install or implement energy services or equipment, including efficiency measures, conservation measures and alternate energy technologies. The costs of these measures, authorized by KRS 45A.352, are funded by the energy and operational savings generated by the services or equipment; these guaranteed future monetary savings are used to make financed payments on the infrastructure improvements or expansions.
“These performance contracts are a win-win for Kentucky’s K-12 stakeholders,” said Tom Abele, Harshaw Trane vice president. “They allow districts to address underfunded and deferred facility issues, and pay for them with future savings guaranteed by Harshaw Trane.”
The bulk of the agreements are 20-year contracts, meaning the guaranteed savings will pay off the loan for the improvements over a 20-year period, Abele said. Harshaw Trane implemented its first guaranteed energy savings contract with a school in 2000, and school districts in Kentucky and Southern Indiana that are under contract with Harshaw Trane already have saved a cumulative total of nearly $14 million.
The Christian County Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved the latest contract with Harshaw Trane, the largest to date for a Kentucky K-12 district, on April 24. Harshaw Trane will implement the much-needed energy conservation measures while balancing the critical issues of building comfort, indoor air quality, system reliability, student well-being and fiscal management. In short, the $14,910,384 project enables Christian County Schools to use future operational savings to support today’s strategic educational objectives.
Bullitt County Public Schools’ performance contract with Harshaw Trane was the previous holder of the largest contract in the state at $11 million. That project included HVAC retrofits, complete district lighting retrofits, installation of a centralized building automation system and remote monitoring with Intelligent Services. To date, Bullitt County schools have saved more than$500,000 and 11 schools in the district are now ENERGY STAR certified.
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