New York State School District Sees Energy Savings Add Up

• Accumulated more than $4 million in realized energy savings over seven years
• Reduced CO2 emissions by more than 9,200 metric tons in same period

The East Syracuse Minoa (ESM) Central School District in Upstate New York just completed the seventh year of an 18-year energy savings performance contract (ESPC) with Siemens. In the 2016-2017 school year, the energy efficiency and building systems improvements implemented at seven schools and several district buildings totaled almost $598,000 in energy savings – exceeding annual guaranteed savings by more than $4,000. To date, the ESPC has provided more than $4 million in accumulated realized energy savings.

“Thanks to the ESPC with Siemens, we’re able to spend more of the school budget on improving our students’ learning environment and less on energy bills,” says Dr. Donna DeSiato, ESM School District Superintendent.

ESPCs are part of Siemens’ Total Energy Management approach. In addition to reducing energy costs and funding the building and energy efficiency improvements through energy savings, the performance contract allows the district to improve energy conservation efforts and take advantage of alternative energy technologies. Cumulatively over the last seven years, the ESPC has helped ESM reduce its carbon emissions by more than 9,200 metric tons – which equates to removing 1,981 cars from the road per year. 

“A performance contract is a great approach for facilities like municipalities, universities, hospitals, and schools, as it helps to spread the cost of maintenance and upgrades over a longer period of time,” explains Joseph Peters, Zone Vice President for Siemens Building Technologies Division. “ESM is also using theirs as an educational opportunity to increase environmental awareness, which benefits students, faculty, staff, and the surrounding community.”

A district-wide energy management system with direct digital controls allows for implementation of energy conservation strategies and room occupancy scheduling. For instance, the chilled water plant at the high school can be controlled by demand-limiting strategies that allow the chilled water systems to gradually reach operating conditions and thus avoid unnecessary utility charges during periods of mild weather. Likewise, HVAC equipment at the middle school can be automatically shut down or reduced in operation during unoccupied periods in order to lessen electrical and thermal energy consumption.

Other district facility improvement measures include lighting retrofits, premium motors and variable frequency drive pumps and fans for HVAC systems, new doors and windows, and a 25 kW solar power system. New high efficiency, condensing gas-fired hot water boiler plants in four ESM buildings have saved as much electricity as 6.2 average American homes will consume over the course of a year.

Learn more about how Siemens is helping ESM’s Pine Grove Middle School create the perfect learning environment at www.usa.siemens.com/k12.

Buildings are alive with information. Billions of intelligent devices and machines generate massive amounts of data every day, every hour, every second. The right digital tools let Siemens’ customers learn from and interact with them like never before. Siemens knows how to analyze building data to continuously optimize customers’ building performance – creating real value in their operations and supporting them in creating perfect places.

About Siemens

The Siemens Building Technologies Division (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) is the North American market leader for safe and secure, energy-efficient and environment-friendly buildings and infrastructures. As a technology partner, service provider, system integrator and product vendor, Building Technologies has offerings for fire protection, life safety and security as well as building automation, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and energy management. Siemens’ Total Energy Management approach helps customers consume sparingly, spend wisely, generate responsibly, and analyze continuously.

Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. With approximately 372,000 employees in 190 countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $92.0 billion in fiscal 2017. Siemens in the USA reported revenue of $23.3 billion, including $5.0 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

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