News-Record.com

Guilford County Schools aims to cut operating costs by building schools that use about half the energy of the national average.

District officials plan to require design firms and contractors to install more efficient heating and cooling systems in new schools and renovations built using the 2008 bond money. The only exception would be the new Jamestown Middle School, whose design was approved five years ago and is nearly complete.

“We have the capability of achieving that right now,” Joe Hill, facilities consultant, said about the 50 percent goal. “There is a lot of money to be saved in terms of our operating costs.”

The move is part of a national trend to construct “net zero” buildings that produce more energy than they consume, mostly through renewable technology such as solar panels, geothermal heating or wind turbines.

The district spends about $20 million on electricity and natural gas per year, Hill said. A typical elementary school spends $100,000 a year on utilities.

Hill talked about the goal Thursday with members of a school board committee reviewing new school building guidelines. The district’s facilities department hopes to get approval of the guidelines from the board within the next few months.

The department plans to release public cost comparisons of the $27 million Northern Middle School — the district’s first “green” school — with traditional buildings. The department also plans to better monitor its monthly energy expenses.

A lack of hard figures on Northern’s utility bills has led to public skepticism about the extra costs of building green schools, something Hill wants to overcome. Northern features light sensors, solar water heating and special windows that maximize use of natural light in classrooms.

At Northern Middle, officials found that the building wasn’t operating as efficiently as they expected, Hill said. “What I want to see is a normal season of heating and cooling to compare numbers.”

Maintenance workers had to fine tune Northern’s heating and cooling systems after it opened in 2007. For example, they discovered earlier this year that trash in the school’s natural gas regulator was causing heat to escape, driving the bill higher. However, a February-through-May 2007 cost analysis showed the school spent $4,742 less on electricity than Kernodle Middle, a school of similar size.

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com