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Paint Lick Elementary School, Kentucky
Background |
| Paint Lick Elementary School in Garrard County, Kentucky, was the first newly constructed school in Kentucky to be heated and cooled by geothermal heat pumps. According to Conn Abnee, Assistant Marketing Manager for East Kentucky Power Cooperative, a joint effort by the electric utilities and the heat pump manufacturer demonstrated geothermal to be the best choice for the new school. |
| State school board officials were skeptical about GHPs when the idea was initially proposed. "The theory is great, but we wanted proof that the equipment was adequate to meet the theory," said Michael Luscher, Director of the Division of Facilities Management. Because of the concerns of the local and state school board officials, advocates for the system went to great lengths to ensure that everyone would be satisfied. WaterFurnace International, Inc., the GHP manufacturer, even offered an unconditional guarantee on the system for two years. |
| "We look at each technology and each installation on an individual basis," said Mr. Luscher. "In this case, it appeared we were at a point when the technology had caught up with the theory. For that reason, we stepped into a pilot project with some assurances from the utilities and WaterFurnace." |
| The GHP system has become a learning tool for the Kentucky Department of Education and Paint Lick students. Completed in June of 1992, the highly efficient Paint Lick Elementary School project was envisioned as a pilot project for future school construction. The Department of Education's goal was to reduce energy consumption, operating costs, and system upkeep. "As educators, we try to encourage our children to make wise use of the environment, and I think this will be something that they [the students] will be able to look back on as adults," said Mary A. Davis, principal of Paint Lick Elementary School. |
The architectural firm of Clotfelter-Samokar, specializing in educational facilities, welcomed the opportunity to become involved in the project. "We worked with geothermal in residential and commercial applications, but this was our first experience with geothermal in a school, and we were excited about its potential," said David Samokar, principal of the firm. Mr. Samokar has maintained his enthusiasm for geothermal heat pumps in schools, as evidenced by Clotfelter-Samokar's six subsequent designs of GHP schools.
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| Facility |
Architect: |
Paint Lick Elementary School
Garrard County
Lancaster, Kentucky
Ms. Mary A. Davis, Principal
Dr. William Wesley,
Superintendent
Garrard County School District
Phone: (606) 792-3018 |
Clotfelter-Samokar, PCS
228 East Reynolds Road,
Suite 1
Lexington, Kentucky 40517
David Samokar, Principal
Phone: (606) 273-3700 |
| Engineer: |
Mechanical Contractor: |
Kaiser-Taulbee and Associates
190 Jefferson
Lexington, Kentucky 40508
Bob Kaiser
Phone: (606) 253-2459 |
Green Mechanical Construction
2277 Danforth Drive
Lexington, Kentucky 40511
Glenn True, Vice President
Phone: (606) 252-4646 |
| Electrical Contractor: |
Manufacturer: |
Cutter-Pulliam Electric Company
857 Contract Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40505
Bill Hosetler, President
Phone: (606) 252-7546 |
WaterFurnace International, Inc.
9000 Conservation Way
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46809
Phone: (219) 478-5667
Jim Smith, Commercial
Phone: (219) 478-5667 |
| Electric Utilities: |
Loop Installer: |
Inter-County Rural Electric
Cooperative Corporation
Box 87
Danville, Kentucky 40423
Jim Jacobus, Vice President
Member Services and Marketing
Phone: (606) 792-4619 |
Ground Loop Systems of Kentucky
Tim Fencer |
East Kentucky Power Cooperative
4758 Lexington Road
P.O. Box 707
Lexington, Kentucky 40392-0707
Conn Abnee, Assistant Marketing
Manager
Phone: (606) 744-4812
E-mail: conn@ekpc.com
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| Paint Lick Elementary School measures 39,564 square feet and is conditioned by 120 tons of WaterFurnace Premier AT Series geothermal heat pumps. The GHP system consists of six 1-ton units, two 2-ton units, nineteen 3-ton units, two 5-ton units, two 6.5-ton units, and four 7.5-ton units. |
| Underground heat transfer is provided by a vertical closed-loop pipe configuration constructed of PE3408 high-density polyethylene pipe. The loop field consists of five sets of 16 vertical loops, 163 feet deep, and four sets of 16 vertical loops, each 188 feet deep, cumulatively resulting in almost 10 miles of pipe buried behind the school, according to Tim Fencer of Ground Loop Systems of Kentucky. |
| The building loop is separated into multiple zones with separate pumps that operate only on demand in order to minimize pumping energy requirements. |
Mr. Fencer, whose home also has a geothermal system, is confident about the school board's decision to go with geothermal technology. "It's the most efficient. It's the only way to go," said Fencer.
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Total school construction cost was $2,339,111, which translates into a cost of $59.12 per square foot of school floorspace. The WaterFurnace geothermal system cost $380,000, or $9.60 per square foot, a very attractive figure for heating and air conditioning with individual temperature control in every room. Of the total GHP system cost, $272,887 ($6.90 per square foot) represents HVAC cost and $107,123 ($2.70 per square foot) went to the ground loop.
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The reduction in energy consumption was projected to be 37% to 40%, a savings of 296,000 kWh at an electricity rate of 5¢/kWh. Other savings are achieved by avoiding a cooling tower and its costs for chemicals, maintenance, and general deterioration.
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| The school project was financed by the Kentucky Bond Authority through the Kentucky School Facilities Construction Commission with 20-year bonds. Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (IRECC) and its generation and transmission supplier, East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), shared the cost of a $125/ton rebate, which was a total incentive of $15,000. EKPC and WaterFurnace International, Inc. supplied technical assistance in the form of energy and cost savings estimates and attendance at two or three meetings to explain GHPs and their benefits to the school board. |
| "We always have an interest in our end-users, and that interest is that we want them to have a system with the lowest operating cost possible," said Leo Hill, IRECC. "And at this time, we know that there isn't a system that can do better than this one [geothermal]." |
| WaterFurnace demonstrated their faith in their product's performance and reliability by offering an unconditional guarantee on the GHP system for two years. If the Kentucky Department of Education was not satisfied with the geothermal system during that time, WaterFurnace would replace it with another heating and cooling system of the school board's choice. This guarantee was backed by a $100,000 bond to further illustrate the company's belief in geothermal technology. After four years of operation, the GHP system is still in place and running flawlessly. |
| Andy Taussig, who at that time headed the marketing department at WaterFurnace, explained that the company has complete confidence in its equipment and is interested in exploring opportunities for geothermal applications throughout the state. "We know that with geothermal, the Paint Lick School will save money, and those savings can be passed along to help benefit the teachers and the kids, which is really what's important here," Taussig said. "It just makes good economic sense. It's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it." |
Another barrier WaterFurnace hoped to pull down was the lack of information available about geothermal. "By guaranteeing this system, we took the risk away from the school board and we believed once they saw what this system could do, awareness and acceptance of the technology will be our reward," Taussig explained. The strategy appears to have worked. Kentucky now has 15 schools with geothermal heat pump systems.
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| Having 35 separate heat pumps throughout the school allows each of the 20 classrooms, the library, cafeteria, offices, and the gym to have individual thermostats. The principal and teachers at Paint Lick Elementary could not be happier with the comfort and flexibility of the geothermal system. Dr. William Wesley, superintendent of the Garrard County School District, said the geothermal system provides a financial cost savings in terms of service, because alternative systems are more labor intensive and require continual custodial care. |
In addition to the enhanced comfort levels and energy savings, the system has provided the school with several other benefits: the elimination of unsightly outdoor equipment such as cooling towers or rooftop units and a reduction in mechanical space requirements due to the elimination of boilers.
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The entire pilot project for Paint Lick Elementary School included other energy saving design characteristics, such as efficient lighting, and energy conserving architectural design and construction. These features, combined with the geo-thermal system, account for the school's attainment of an Engineering Excellence Award given by the National Society of Professional Engineers.
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| Pilot projects are intended to teach lessons that will benefit future geothermal projects. The geothermal pilot project at the Paint Lick Elementary School has been no exception. When asked about any problems experienced with the Paint Lick GHP system, maintenance personnel could identify only one--the difficulty of changing filters. While this largely positive response points to the reliability of the system, it also suggests some design changes for future geothermal heat pump systems. |
| The horizontal GHP units at Paint Lick Elementary are hung from the 12-foot-high structural steel members, well above the 8-foot suspended ceilings. To minimize duct runs, the units were placed at the center of each classroom. To change filters, maintenance personnel must move students and desks to clear enough floorspace in the middle of the classroom to place a step ladder to remove suspended ceiling tiles. Then they must change ladders to climb the 12 feet to the GHP unit. Had Paint Lick's geothermal system been designed today, vertical GHP units would probably be designed with filter access from the hallway. Console units might be another choice. |
After completion of the Paint Lick project, Kentucky instituted the Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) code for ventilation air requirements that mandate 15-cubic-feet-per-minute of outside air for each building occupant. This ventilation requirement increases HVAC energy consumption, since much more outside air must be heated or cooled. However, David Samokar, architect for the Paint Lick project, is using some provisions in the code for new projects that reduce the energy penalties associated with the new ventilation requirements. These code provisions allow pre-conditioning spaces prior to occupancy without drawing outside air and using the time lag at the end of the day. In large spaces, Mr. Samokar has controlled the percentage of outside air drawn into the space with CO 2 sensors.
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| Although the children who attend Paint Lick Elementary School may not fully realize it now, they are learning and experiencing a valuable lesson in preserving the environment, and soon, other children will too. The school board has approved the use of geothermal in another new school, Camp Dick Robinson Elementary School, scheduled to be built this fall. I think there is no better [example] that a school board can set than to encourage students to protect the ecology of our region," Garrard County Superintendent Wesley said. |
| News of the benefits of using GHPs in schools is spreading across the country. Over 200 schools now use geothermal heating and cooling. Officials from the Bay District Schools in Panama City, Florida, recently visited the Paint Lick Elementary School to learn more about the cost savings and energy efficiency associated with the school's geothermal heating and cooling system. "Kentucky and its electric cooperatives are leaders in geothermal technology," said Claude Warren a commercial energy consultant with Gulf Power and the trip's organizer. "We decided that if we wanted to learn more about the benefits of geothermal, we might as well go right to the experts." |
| Another "center of GHP excellence" is located in Texas. The Austin Independent School District, considered by some to have started the GHP trend in schools, has built or retrofitted approximately 60 schools with geothermal heat pump systems. |
| Many northern schools are getting in the loop with geothermal as well. Based on the success of Minnesota's first school GHP system in Perham, Minnesota, many other schools in the area have been built or are being planned with geothermal systems. Approximately 40 schools in Minnesota are enjoying the benefits of geothermal systems. For example, the 140,000-square-foot West Central Area Secondary School in Barrett, Minnesota, uses 575 tons of Florida Heat Pump GHPs for space heating and cooling, domestic water heating, and ventilation air tempering. |
| Geothermal systems also have found their way into larger educational complexes, such as The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. This GHP system is one of the largest in the country. The original renovation totaled about 1,400 tons of Trane GHP units, and approximately 200 tons of GHPs have been added recently. |
As geothermal enters the classrooms of today's students, tomorrow's leaders may leave a little wiser about energy, ecology, and economy--a lesson to last a lifetime. *
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Sources |
| Elementary school teaches lesson in efficiency, WaterFurnace Case Study #2, WaterFurnace International, Inc. |
| Jim Jacobus, Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, energy bills, July 1992 - August 1996. |
| Jim Jacobus, Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, draft write-up. |
| State approves new school for Paint Lick area, newspaper article, The Advocate-Messenger, Vicki Story Stevens, September 11, 1991. |
| Florida School Officials Get a Lesson in Geothermal, article, Power Partners (EKPC newsletter), East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Spring 1996. |
| David Samokar, Clotfelter-Samokar, phone conversation, October 1996. |
| Jim Jacobus, Inter-County Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, phone conversation, October 1996. |
| Dr. William Wesley, Superintendent, Garrard County School District, phone conversation, October 1996. |
Bob Halvorson, HVAC Reps, Inc., Loretto, Minnesota, fact sheets and phone conversation, October 1996.
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Expected Annual Savings
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| Evaporative Cooling Tower Fan Power |
$750 |
| Cooling Tower Make-Up Water |
$250 |
| Labor |
$1,000 |
| Chemicals (Cooling Tower Water Treatment) |
$250 |
Geothermal System Winter Booster Energy
(296,000 kWh at 5¢/kWh) |
$14,000 |
| Total |
$16,250 |
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* Information obtained from Kaiser-Taulbee and Associates Inc., the mechanical and electrical firm for the project
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| Electricity Use Table
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| Electricity use, 1992-1996 |
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1992-1993 Electricity Use |
1993-1994 Electricity Use |
1994-1995 Electricity Use |
1995-1996 Electricity Use |
Month
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kWh Usage |
kW Demand |
Cost |
kWh Usage |
kW Demand |
Cost |
kWh Usage |
kW Demand |
Cost |
kWh Usage |
kW Demand |
Cost* |
| ------------ |
---------------- |
---------- |
--------- |
---------- |
--------- |
--------- |
--------- |
--------- |
------------- |
--------- |
--------- |
------------ |
| August |
27,120 |
93.6 |
$1,527 |
28,560 |
186.0 |
$1,608 |
29,880 |
163.2 |
$1,682 |
32,280 |
213.6 |
$1,642 |
September |
33,840 |
199.2 |
$1,905 |
34,200 |
165.5 |
$1,925 |
31,920 |
158.4 |
$1,797 |
40,560 |
177.6 |
$2,064 |
October |
33,360 |
192.0 |
$1,878 |
34,320 |
174.0 |
$1,932 |
33,000 |
195.6 |
$1,858 |
35,280 |
157.2 |
$1,795 |
November |
34,320 |
216.0 |
$1,932 |
41,760 |
206.4 |
$2,351 |
37,920 |
199.2 |
$2,135 |
49,800 |
219.6 |
$2,534 |
December |
51,960 |
234.0 |
$2,925 |
52,560 |
208.8 |
$2,959 |
39,720 |
219.6 |
$2,236 |
62,160 |
187.2 |
$3,163 |
January |
50,640 |
246.0 |
$2,851 |
54,240 |
225.6 |
$3,053 |
58,440 |
254.4 |
$3,000 |
57,240 |
180.0 |
$2,912 |
February |
42,840 |
242.4 |
$2,411 |
48,840 |
231.6 |
$2,749 |
55,080 |
241.2 |
$2,828 |
55,680 |
. |
$2,833 |
March |
54,240 |
219.6 |
$3,053 |
46,440 |
217.2 |
$2,614 |
36,840 |
230.4 |
$1,891 |
52,560 |
. |
$2,674 |
April |
34,200 |
196.8 |
$1,925 |
34,200 |
180.0 |
$1,925 |
33,840 |
196.8 |
$1,737 |
66,720 |
. |
$3,395 |
May |
29,880 |
164.4 |
$1,682 |
33,360 |
159.6 |
$1,878 |
29,520 |
169.2 |
$1,516 |
34,320 |
. |
$1,746 |
June |
20,760 |
134.4 |
$1,169 |
19,800 |
148.8 |
$1,115 |
22,320 |
105.6 |
$1,146 |
27,000 |
. |
$1,374 |
July |
23,520 |
104.4 |
$1,324 |
21,120 |
103.2 |
$1,189 |
21,960 |
114.0 |
$1,127 |
26,520 |
. |
$1,349 |
12-Month Total |
436,680 |
2,242.8 |
$24,581 |
449,400 |
2,206.8 |
$25,297 |
430,440 |
2,247.6 |
$22,952 |
540,120 |
. |
$27,481 |
| Monthly Average |
36,390 |
186.9 |
$2,048 |
37,450 |
183.9 |
$2,108 |
35,870 |
187.3 |
$1,913 |
45,010 |
. |
$2,290 |
Annual
kWh/ft 2 |
11.04 |
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. |
11.36 |
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. |
10.88 |
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. |
13.65 |
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Annual $/ft 2 |
$0.62 |
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. |
$0.64 |
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. |
$0.58 |
. |
. |
$0.69 |
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. |
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| * 1995-1996 cost based on Inter-County RECC's All-Electric School rate of 5.88 c/kWh with no demand charge. |
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