Georgia County to Save More Than $20 Million With Energy Efficient Upgrades

Georgia’s McIntosh County Board of Education is expected to save more than $20.9 million in energy and operating costs over a 20-year period, thanks to energy efficient improvements.

The board of education is partnering with ABM, a provider of facility solutions, to implement energy efficient infrastructure upgrades to multiple facilities in the district.

By monitoring energy use, inspecting facility equipment and interviewing key school personnel, ABM identified the school system's major infrastructure challenges and opportunities for cost-cutting, energy-efficiency improvements. Together with the McIntosh County Board of Education, ABM created a plan to provide infrastructure and operations upgrades that will reduce overall operations costs. This provides general fund relief to implement additional, beneficial infrastructure improvements. The project is expected to achieve more than $263,000 worth of savings in its first year alone.

"ABM is very excited to help the McIntosh County Board of Education implement an energy performance solution that will benefit multiple schools and administrative offices in the district. This project will positively impact virtually every student and teacher in the school system through a variety of outside-the-box, cost-cutting energy and operations measures," said Mark Newsome, President of ABM Technical Solutions.

Energy-efficiency and facility improvements are planned for Todd Grant Elementary School, McIntosh County Academy, McIntosh County Middle School and the McIntosh County Board of Education and Maintenance Offices. Highlights of the project include:

• All HVAC units at McIntosh County Academy and a significant number of units at other facilities in need of replacement will be upgraded to high-efficiency, state-of-the-art HVAC units.
• All district HVAC units will be controlled by advanced, web-based direct digital control (DDC) systems to maximize energy and operational efficiency.
• The Todd Grant Elementary School campus will receive two complete, age-appropriate playgrounds and a covered outdoor classroom area. Three additional buildings on this campus will be renovated and expanded to serve as the administrative complex for the school district and the historic Richard J. Reynolds Gymnasium will be renovated and re-designed to match the design of the new elementary school.
• Irrigation wells will be installed at Todd Grant Elementary School, McIntosh Middle School, and McIntosh County Academy to provide a more cost-efficient means of irrigating the campus and athletic fields.
• All restrooms at McIntosh County Middle School will be renovated and aging roofs of two buildings will be replaced.

The project is scheduled for completion by December 2017.

Last year, ABM was tapped for upgrades to the various facilities in Newton County, Georgia.