Where We Were
- 2007
Faced with two aging and unreliable boilers, the Haldane Central School District appointed a heating subcommittee to research a geothermal heating/cooling system for the school. After promising but inconclusive work, the subcommittee recommended a formal engineering study of geothermal to fully assess its costs and benefits, but the Board of Education chose to go with an oil-fired steam system. This decision was in part based on an assessment of the existing boilers which indicated that the boilers were in danger of imminent failure. The Board planned to replace the existing equipment with new oil-power boilers.
- 2008
Repairs were made to the boilers which extended their life expectancy. Consequently, community members went back to the Board and asked that they complete an engineering study of geothermal to compare it with the other ways of heating/cooling the buildings.
At that time, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) offered grants which would pay 50% of the cost of such studies. We offerred to help raise funds to pay the other 50%, and the District agreed to do a study. Through contributions from individuals, a benefit concert and silent auction, we raised a total of $15,023 after expenses.
In April, members of the Haldane Buildings and Grounds committee met with two engineering consulting firms through the NYSERDA "FlexTech" program. They decided that the firm Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. was best qualified to conduct the engineering study. Although Pirnie made an initial submission to NYSERDA, in the end, Pirnie decided not to perform the study.
Subsequently, a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the study was sent out for bid. In September, the AKF Group (AKF) was chosen to perform the study, with a $30,000 bid. AKF started in the late fall of 2008, and eventually made their submission to NYSERDA. NYSERDA rejected their submission as incomplete, and it was sent back to AKF for corrections.
- 2009
Despite repeated requests from the District, AKF made no changes to their original NYSERDA submission in 2009.
Where We Are Now
- 2010
As of this writing, AKF has requested payment from the District for the study. However, in the RFP for the study, there is a clause which requires that the study has to be accepted by NYSERDA before the District will approve payment, and that approval has not been granted However, it is important to note that a substantial portion of the work required by the RFP has been completed. It is not clear what the final outcome will be for the study; when the situation is resolved, information will be posted here at haldane-geo.org.
What's Next
- October 26th Vote
In the meantime, the District has been living on borrowed time with the existing boilers. This year, the District began to look into the possibility of using an Energy Performance Contract (EPC) to address the heating plant problem. An EPC is a program which essentially allows the District to replace much of the existing heating plant and ventilation with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient equipment without forcing the District to make a large capital outlay. The District interviewed possible firms, and chose ConEdison Solutions (ConEd) to plan and implement the improvements. For more information, you can also visit this link to slides from ConEd's August presentation of the EPC.
This plan has been put up for a public vote. Please click this link and take some time to look at it on the Haldane website.Voting will take place on Tuesday, October 26th, 7am-9pm, at Haldane.
We feel that this is an appropriate direction for the school to take, and support voting "Yes" on the proposal. Based on the data available in the EPC, ConEd is guaranteeing a 45% reduction in oil usage for a capital expenditure of about $1.8 million, with about 35% of that funded by the state. The guarantee is a financial guarantee whereby if the school doesn’t use 43% less, then the company (ConEd) will pay the difference. The way the deal is structured, the company funds the construction and then the school pays off the “loan” from annual energy savings. Based on these numbers, oil would have to be something like $8-10 per gallon for geothermal to be competitive and right now the school is probably paying just over $2 per gallon.