TALES FROM THREE STATES: SOUTH CAROLINA
THE PROJECT Energy Management at the Greenville County School District THE PLACE:
Greenville, S.C. THE SAVINGS:
At least $4 million in net savings WHAT MADE IT NECESSARY:
Maintaining teaching staff with high energy bills WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE:
A supportive school board, energy expertise, and a $1.9 million federal grant
A Simple Equation in Greenville Schools: Using Less Energy Means More Teachers Have Jobs Ask Bill Knight, the director of energy management for the
Greenville County School District in South Carolina, how his office
has managed to save $4 million in operating costs, and he’ll take you to a room in a large industrial building, where three men stare at computers all day.
“This is my nerve center,” Knight says proudly.
The men and computers track energy use throughout the huge
district, which, with its 100 schools, educates 73,000 students –
ten percent of the state’s total. “I can tell you at any time what the temperature is in any classroom,” Knight says. And that’s just for
starters: Knight’s watchmen also follow humidity levels, air flow,
whether light switches and computer screens are turned on or off,
whether rooms are occupied, and, of course, if anything needs fixing. These are helpful strategies when you’re dealing with utility costs currently running at $50,000 per day.
Knight, a mechanical engineer, has worked for the school district since 1995, but the last decade has been his most productive.
Beginning in 2002, the district went on a building binge, renovating, replacing and adding schools to accommodate population growth
and deferred maintenance. During that time, Knight got something he’d long desired: a computerized building-management system.
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