Houston District Receives $90K Efficiency Reward

 

HOUSTON — As part of its energy efficiency incentive program, Centerpoint energy company recently awarded a Houston school district more than $93,000 for efforts to reduce its peak electricity demand.

 

Spring Independent School District received the check as a reward for the total estimated annual kilowatt-hour savings at 10 of its schools.

 

Gloria Marshall Elementary School, a newly built school opening in August 2011, was responsible for more than $64,000 of the reward. The school was designed by educational architecture and engineering firm SHW Group. 

 

Gloria Marshall will be the first in Houston to use geothermal heating and cooling, according to design firm officials, which is expected to save at least 25 percent in energy consumption over the current code.

 

The school was designed with south-facing classrooms to take advantage of natural light.

With sensors in each room, the building is designed to have lights off in the classroom 75 percent of the time. The facility also features a highly reflective white roof, an on-site wind turbine and 10 kilowatts of roof-mounted photovoltaic cells that will convert sunlight directly into electricity, according to officials.

 

Designed according to LEED Gold standards, the school has already received an Energy Star rating from the Environmental Protection Agency for its design.

 

In addition to designing the Gloria Marshall, SHW helped the district receive additional incentive funding through “smart, energy efficient decision-making and implementation, including upgrades to lighting, HVAC, roofing and other M&V (measurement and verification) projects,” according to officials from the firm.

 

The incentive program, called the Centerpoint SCORE program, is a voluntary and free program that pays incentives for energy efficiency measures that reduce peak electricity demand.