Facilities director says energy projects have reduced district usage 11.5% from 2023 baseline; estimates $125,000 annual savings

Facilities staff delivered an FY26 energy program update at the Jan. 12 Moorhead Area Public Schools board meeting, outlining completed projects and early outcomes from energy conservation measures (ECMs).

The presenter described LED lighting retrofits at Horizon East (about 2,200 fixtures) and boiler replacements at several sites, plus scheduling and control changes that reduced runtime on air handlers. “After collecting data from June 2024 to today, we've actually saved... $50,000 annually, predominantly in gas savings,” the presenter said while describing how HVAC scheduling and fault detection work. He summarized district‑wide results: “For 3 months, comparatively where we had new lighting put in at Horizon East, we have seen a significant savings by month,” and later reported, “we reduced energy usage by 5.3% and ... now we're at 11.5%,” compared with the 2023 baseline.

The presenter provided facility‑level examples: Horizon East lighting produced a large portion of the savings and Dorothy Dodds savings exceeded initial estimates (presenter cited roughly $25,000 saved at that building). He said the district has implemented several ECMs with small capital outlays that yielded rapid paybacks in some cases (an example cited a $9,600 investment that returned roughly $42,000 in savings).

Staff described additional steps including energy analyses at three sites, continuing LED projects, and implementing fault detection and diagnostics for HVAC systems to reduce failures and maintenance costs. Board members asked about redundancy, boiler backup and schedule impacts on special events; staff said systems can be overridden for performances and that redundancies are built into the heating systems.

Staff characterized the total estimated annual savings from gas, electric and curtailment adjustments as about $125,000 with about $70,000 in one‑time rebates; the board thanked staff for the work and asked that anomalies (for example an atypical usage spike at one building) be investigated further.