American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau once said, "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."

Those who teach Thoreau's words in the Twinsburg, OH school district can do so much more comfortably now, and at a tremendous savings to the district, thanks to CCG Energy Solutions, Richfield, OH. When it comes to energy upgrades, the company takes Thoreau’s philosophy of simplifying to heart, but (fortunately for its customers) does not see details as mere frittering.

Our tale begins in 2009, when the administration at the Twinsburg High School and Fitness Center Complex realized it was faced with a serious issue: the school and its attached community fitness center were not operating nearly as efficiently as they should have been, and the 367,295-sq.ft. building that housed them both was only 10 years old.

The need for an upgrade of the controls system and a growing awareness of green technology brought the district's attention to the school. They knew they had to improve comfort, and were also looking for ways to reduce utility spending on their building.

CCG Energy Solutions surveyed the situation and determined that the building was operating at 152,700 Btus/sq.ft./year. That gave it a rating of 1 on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Portfolio Manager, an interactive online energy management tool. The Portfolio Manager rates buildings on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the best.

"Based on our experience, we knew the building could be much more energy efficient — even Energy Star certified — with an energy conservation project," says Brian Wagner, president of CCG Energy Solutions, Inc. "We knew we could provide immediate results in energy reduction and cost, while making the environment more comfortable for the building’s inhabitants."

When Wagner talks like that, school districts are wise to listen. His company and its sister, CCG Automation, focus on energy projects in hospitals, colleges, manufacturing plants, and office buildings. But its real "sweet spot" is in the K-12 market, and the company had already performed energy upgrades at dozens of other school districts in the southern suburbs of Cleveland prior to tackling Twinsburg.

Mike Lenzo, assistant superintendent of the Twinsburg School District, met Wagner at a seminar sponsored by CCG to educate building owners on the true costs of operating a space.

"Like many entities, we were always obligated to focus on the least expensive ways to meet the specs for a project," Lenzo says. "Wagner, an architect, and the business manager of another school district had a discussion about the difference between designing based on cost per square foot, and designing based on the overall cost of actually owning and operating that space. It changed my perspective."

Lenzo and the Twinsburg schools asked CCG to proceed with an analysis of the district's buildings, in which it was discovered that the high school — although among the newer buildings — was where the biggest energy and comfort problems existed.

CCG presented options to the district that addressed several energy conservation measures in the high school and fitness center, including:

• Designing a boiler system according to CCG’s "right size" philosophy. "We were able to take three 8-million Btu boilers and replace them with three high-efficiency 3-million Btu boilers, a change that translated into a considerable reduction in energy use," Wagner says. "Not only are the new boilers more efficient, having properly-sized boilers reduces equipment cycling."
• Changing the heating system from a primary/secondary pumping system to a variable-primary pumping system. This process freed up floor space, enabled simpler control, and reduced motor horsepower requirements.
• Upgrading the building automation system by replacing the existing control system with an Automated Logic WebCTRL System. CCG's time-tested control strategies enabled the district to improve control of the system and reduce energy consumption. CCG also added gas meters to further improve the ability to monitor the system.
• Undertaking a significant lighting upgrade both inside and outside the building

At the time of the project, annual savings for the Twinsburg High School and Fitness Center Complex were projected to be:

• 1,625,299 kWh of electricity ($133,106)
• 7,927 mcf of natural gas ($93,538)