District-Wide Energy Performance

The Challenge

Cortland's school district was facing what a lot of districts across New York deal with — aging mechanical equipment, rising energy costs, and buildings that hadn't seen a comprehensive infrastructure investment in years. The district includes multiple school buildings, each with its own systems, its own quirks, and its own maintenance headaches. There was a real need for a coordinated, district-wide approach — not just one-off fixes, but a plan that would modernize infrastructure across every building while making financial sense for the community.

What I Did

I led the energy and economic analysis for a $5.9 million energy performance contract covering the full district. This wasn't a high-level study — it was a building-by-building, system-by-system engineering effort.

At the Junior/Senior High School alone, I evaluated over a dozen air handling units, mapped out their operating schedules, outdoor air fractions, and fan horsepower, and identified significant opportunities in how the systems were being controlled. Several large units were running 24/7 through the heating season to prevent freezing — a common problem in older schools. I developed revised control sequences that addressed the freeze protection concern while dramatically reducing unnecessary runtime and energy waste.

Across the district — including the Parker, Smith, Barry, Randall, and Virgil elementary schools — I analyzed boiler systems (evaluating efficiency upgrades from 76% to 91% for each building individually), calculated ventilation savings from adding occupancy sensors tied to unit ventilators, and developed chiller replacement scenarios for a 450-ton plant, improving efficiency from 0.84 kW/ton to 0.53 kW/ton.

The full scope of measures included:

• LED lighting with advanced controls (interior and exterior, district-wide)

• District-wide building automation system integration

• Chiller replacement

• Rooftop unit replacements

• Boiler upgrades at multiple buildings

• Addition of a heat recovery loop

• Pump and motor replacements with variable frequency drives

• Domestic hot water system upgrades

• Ventilation optimization with occupancy-based controls

I oversaw the design of the project, prepared and submitted the full design package and all required paperwork to the New York State Education Department (NYSED), and worked with NYSERDA and the district's local utility to secure additional funding.

The Result

The project delivers estimated savings of more than $324,000 per year. After accounting for all incentives from the state, NYSERDA, and the utility — plus payments on the financing — the district receives an annual net benefit of more than $258,000 per year.

That's not just energy savings on paper. That's real money back in the district's operating budget, every single year.

Project completed in a previous engineering role.

Award-Winning Ventilation Innovation & Multi-Year Energy Partnership

The Challenge

Auburn City School District had been dealing with a persistent and frustrating problem at the high school: the building was under significant negative pressure. Twenty-five exhaust fans were running on fixed schedules, pulling air out of the building regardless of actual need. The result was doors that were hard to open, comfort complaints, and wasted energy. It's a surprisingly common issue in schools — and one that most projects don't bother to address creatively.

At the same time, the district needed a broader infrastructure strategy. Lighting across the district was outdated, controls were limited, and major mechanical equipment was aging.

What I Did

I worked with Auburn over multiple years on two district-wide energy performance contracts totaling approximately $4.0 million in improvements.

The first project (2014, $2.1M) addressed foundational systems: chiller replacement, absorption chiller replacement, demand control ventilation, integrating lighting occupancy sensors with HVAC controls, adding VFDs to pumps, motor replacements, and exterior lighting upgrades. I directed the design team, prepared the NYSED submission, and secured additional funding from NYSERDA and the local utility. After all incentives and loan payments, the district received a net annual benefit of more than $50,000.

The second project (2015, $1.9M) is the one that won the award — and it's the one I'm most proud of.

For the lighting scope, we upgraded interior fixtures to LED technology with an advanced control system. But the real innovation was the ventilation work at the high school. Instead of simply replacing the 25 exhaust fans with newer versions of the same thing, I redesigned the control methodology entirely. The new system integrated building pressure sensors and added variable frequency drives to two large exhaust fans, creating a demand-based exhaust strategy. The building now only exhausts as much air as it actually needs.

The negative pressure problem was solved. Comfort improved. And the project delivered approximately $40,000 per year in energy savings, with $30,000 in one-time utility incentives.

The Result

The ventilation innovation at Auburn High School was recognized with an ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies) Gold Award for Innovation.

Across both projects, the district receives a combined annual net benefit of more than $90,000 — money that goes directly back into the operating budget, year after year.

Projects completed in a previous engineering role.

From Retro-Commissioning Study to New Controls — at Zero Cost

The Challenge

Sandy Creek is a rural school district in Oswego County with a single K-12 building totaling 267,000 square feet. Like many districts of its size, the building's HVAC and control systems had drifted significantly from their original design intent over the years. Equipment was running when it didn't need to be. Sequences of operation weren't being followed. Comfort issues were popping up regularly. The district knew something was wrong but didn't have a clear picture of how many issues existed or what to prioritize.

What I Did

I performed a comprehensive retro-commissioning study of the entire building — evaluating every piece of HVAC equipment and the full building automation system. The scope was designed around NYSERDA's Guideline to the Commissioning Process for Existing Buildings and was funded through the NYSERDA FlexTech Program.

The process included functional performance testing on all major mechanical equipment, verification of sequences of operation, and a systematic review of how each system was actually performing compared to how it was supposed to perform.

The result: I identified over 100 separate operational issues — control sequences that weren't running correctly, equipment that was operating unnecessarily, schedules that didn't match occupancy, and sensors that were out of calibration.

But the study was only the beginning.

After delivering the findings, I worked with their controls contractor to design the solution: a new building control system that would address the issues identified in the retro-commissioning study. Then I secured funding to implement it — using a creative combination of NYSED capital outlay provisions and utility incentives.

The Result

The district received a brand-new building control system at zero cost to the district or its tax base.

This project is a perfect example of what's possible when the study, the design, and the funding strategy are all aligned from the start. The retro-commissioning study wasn't just a report — it was the first step in a fully funded implementation.

Project completed in a previous engineering role.