Trustee Rodney Keynes, reporting for the Facilities Committee on Oct. 22, said Westbury Union Free School District's energy performance contract measures are meeting or exceeding guaranteed savings and that the district's solar installations and other conservation work are yielding measurable results.

Keynes said the district has an approximately 803-kilowatt solar carport at the high school and a roughly 340-kilowatt roof-mounted system at the middle school; the combined solar PV systems reduced electrical consumption by about 1,400,000 kilowatt-hours in the year under review, which the district's annual Honeywell report met the contractual guarantee for.

Keynes described other conservation measures (ECMs) implemented under the energy performance contract: LED lighting and controls, walk-in freezer and cooler controllers to prevent short-cycling, a building-management system that monitors temperatures, building-envelope improvements, boiler and piping insulation upgrades and centralized desktop-computer power management to reduce after-hours draw. He said the annual report details each ECM and confirms the district met or exceeded the savings targets.

Why it matters: meeting guaranteed savings reduces operating costs and can free capital for other district priorities; the installations also provide classroom learning opportunities about renewable energy.

A resident asked whether the conservation targets translated to dollar savings; facilities staff explained electrical savings are recorded in kilowatt-hours and the audit/contract reports present guaranteed reductions in consumption as the metric for the contract.

Ending: the facilities committee said it will continue to monitor system performance through regular reports; the committee also discussed next steps such as trending classroom temperatures and prioritizing HVAC upgrades where needed.