Third-grade teacher Vicki Anderson helps students with a science project in a classroom outfitted with new energy-efficient lighting.

Efficiency upgrades get high marks from students and staff at Chelan elementary school

Major heating and lighting improvements at the elementary school in Chelan are saving money and improving comfort.

Gone are the noisy, inefficient heat pumps and stagnant air. Gone are the irritating fluorescent lights that flicker, buzz and hum.

The only humming at Morgen Owings Elementary now is from school officials tickled with the improved environment and energy savings at the building. They’re singing the praises of PSF Mechanical, the Seattle contractor that worked through the summer to install the upgrades by the first day of school Sept. 5.

Morgen Owings Elementary School Principal Jeff Peck

Seattle-based PSF is an ESCO, or energy services company, pre-qualified by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to work with K-12 schools.

An energy efficiency audit identified potential savings in HVAC and lighting at both the elementary school and middle/high school.  With help from PSF, the district secured  a state grant for $550,000. Chelan County PUD contributed $41,000 through its Resource$mart program and the school district paid the rest of the $1.1 million cost. 

The elementary school was treated to a complete upgrade of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and all new lighting. Chelan Middle/High School received new lighting only.  

The control center for Morgen Owings' new energy management system.

Energy savings at the two buildings is projected at 682,694 kilowatt hours per year — enough to power 31 Chelan County homes.

As part of the package, PSF guarantees that energy savings will occur. If savings projections aren’t reached, PSF agrees to pay the difference, said Dan Hering, business development manager for PSF.

More than 2,000 fluorescent lights were replaced at the two schools. At the elementary school, 52 new high-efficiency heat pumps were installed, air circulation equipment was upgraded, and “smart” controls were added. Thermostat set points now are controlled by a digital thermostat, central computer and network of “distributed intelligence” Hering said. Changes can be made remotely, and the building is monitored and metered for energy consumption.

Chelan Business Manager Scott Renick said if funds allow, a similar HVAC upgrade could occur at the middle/high school building.

Wenatchee High School is in line for a lighting retrofit this school year. Bryan Visscher, maintenance and operations supervisor, said lighting will be replaced throughout the building. Wenatchee is using Ameresco Quantum, another energy services company pre-qualified through the state energy program.

The high school project involves a complete overhaul of all lighting at a cost of about $650,000, Visscher said, with $255,000 covered by a state grant and $51,000 coming from the PUD’s Resource$mart energy efficiency program. The remainder will be paid by the school district.

Work will be done in the evenings beginning this fall and continuing through the spring. Projected energy savings is 858,085 kilowatt hours per year, or enough to power 39 homes.

Click here to view a graph showing early energy savings at Morgen Owings Elementary.

More information:
PSF Mechanical’s recap of the Chelan project

Superintendent of Public Instruction energy grants program

Bryce Newberry

Fourteen-year-old Bryce Newberry of Wenatchee has entered a national young reporters contest with a news clip about saving energy.

Newberry submitted the video for a chance to become a featured reporter for Teen Kids News, a national half-hour weekly program that focuses on events and issues affecting teens. The program airs Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. on KING-TV, Seattle. According to its website, Teen Kids News “highlights positive stories about kids doing amazing things and helping to make the world a better place.”

Newberry’s clip includes an interview with staff at Chelan County PUD, and reminds viewers to check insulation in their homes, switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use the dishwasher instead of hand-washing dishes, and keep the thermostat at reasonable settings.

This is the second time Newberry has entered a Teen Kids News contest. Last year his clip on the future of newspapers made it to the contest’s top 10. Newberry also has been a special guest on KOMO News in Seattle after broadcasters there saw a videotape Newberry made of himself imitating the KOMO Morning News crew.

Newberry said he’s wanted to be a newscaster for several years. His career goal is to work for a major network.

Winners in the Teen Kids News contest are chosen by popular vote. Voting begins Sept. 12 on the Teen Kids News website. Viewers can vote once a day.

Watch Newberry’s video here.

Learn how to Use your Programmable Thermostat.

This chip tells controls at Sleeping Lady Resort that guests have arrived so it's time to adjust the thermostat and turn on the lights.

The operators of Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth believe they may have found a key to saving energy. Actually, 40 keys.

In April, 40 of the resort’s 58 guest rooms were outfitted with the Entergize key fob system. When guests enter these rooms, they insert a small chip attached to their room keys into a special light switch. This sends a signal to the upper half of the rooms’ electric receptacles and thermostats, putting them in the “occupied” mode. Some of the lights go on and heat or air conditioning comes on to pre-programmed settings. When guests leave their rooms they remove the key and fob from the control switch, which causes the lights to go off and the heating and cooling system to drop into the “unoccupied” energy-saving mode.

Ken Erikson, maintenance technician at Sleeping Lady, said the goal is to automate energy savings. Guests don’t mean to waste energy, he said, but it happens. For example, a couple out for a winter walk might crank the heat way up when they return to their room, then leave for dinner and forget to turn it down. With the new system, setback will occur automatically.

A majority of rooms at Sleeping Lady have been outfitted with energy-saving setback systems.

Entergize claims energy use in guest rooms can drop by up to 45 percent, but Erikson isn’t expecting savings that dramatic. Sleeping Lady has no TVs, so the resort can’t be compared to hotels where TVs, even in standby mode, are using power. Erikson said Sleeping Lady’s goal is to save energy over the long term.

Greg Felix, Entergize contractor who installed Sleeping Lady’s system, said he’s done work all over the country, including at actor Ed Begley’s home. The company’s work was featured on a History Channel Modern Marvels episode that focused on ways to reduce phantom load — the energy drain caused by cell phone chargers, TVs and other appliances that are left plugged in and continue to draw power. You can watch that show here.

During extreme cold, switching to ‘emergency’ heat reduces energy savings but may increase your comfort

When temperatures drop below freezing, the number one question we hear from heat-pump owners is whether to switch to resistance heat. Most HVAC contractors recommend turning  thermostats to “emergency” or “auxiliary” heat – essentially switching off heat pumps and turning on the furnace – during a cold spell. 

Since that practice costs energy rather than saves it, we called Rod Van Hoven, longtime HVAC contractor and partner at Central Washington Heating of Wenatchee, to find out why. 

“From a strict energy-savings standpoint, run it all the time,” Van Hoven said about heat pumps. But most of his customers are inquiring about how to increase their comfort, he said, which sometimes conflicts with energy efficiency.

“When you have 120-degree air (the temperature of air heated by electric coils in a furnace) and you put your hand over the register, the air feels warm. But air off a heat pump at 80 to 90 degrees feels cold. So if you’re sitting by the register or in your house taking a shower, it’s a comfort issue. This is where we start differentiating between a comfort standpoint and an energy standpoint.” 

Van Hoven said recommendations differ between contractors, but “if people ask me at what temperature they should turn it off, my answer is that if it’s going to be cold for a long period of time, maybe a week, where the high is about 15 degrees, I’d be inclined to turn mine to resistance heat.” 

Van Hoven said he also wants to avoid wear and tear on the machines. “When your heat pump is running at 0 degrees, it’s running a lot. You’re putting hours on that piece of equipment but not getting a whole lot of gain out of it.” 

He said the best advice is to make your house as energy efficient as possible with vinyl-framed double-pane windows and good insulation, and sealed against air leaks. “That’s what will make your house more comfortable at these temperatures. It’s comfort and efficiency together.”