Ameresco, a company that provides solutions for achieving efficient use of energy and facilitates the operation of renewable energy plants, declared that it has signed an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) accord with Shenandoah County Public Schools, placed 90 miles west of Washington in Virginia’s northern Shenandoah Valley.
The terms of the contract will require Ameresco to facilitate the implementation of energy efficiency upgrades to 10 schools located in the Shenandoah County, the bus garage of the school division and a maintenance shop.
Ameresco undertook an exhaustive energy performance audit to understand the baseline of energy usage and consumption of utility power at the schools. The company has prepared a number of energy conserving features for the Shenandoah schools, which include installation of proper lighting and controls, conservation of water, upgradation of existing controls and further expansion. Other energy conservation measures include replacement of the unit ventilator and introduction of direct digital controls, setting up of a multizone unit conversion facility and replacement of boilers and existing transformers.
The company assisted the Shenandoah County Public Schools to fill in the Qualified School Construction Bonds (QSCB) application. Under the provisions of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the schools received an interest free grant of $7.3 million through QSCB. The project is expected to provide energy savings of around $480,000 over a period of 16 years.
Source: http://www.ameresco.com/