January Message from the Superintendent
Saving Energy, always a good idea.

As we all know, our winter season is here and as the temperatures continue to drop New Prague Area Schools will be relying on new technologies to save energy.

Time flies and it is hard to believe that three of our buildings have mechanical systems that are over 30 years old. Our custodial department has done a noteworthy job maintaining these systems however technology has afforded us higher and higher efficiency ratings which in turn save money and the environment.

In our quest to save energy, we have installed two high efficiency boilers at our Falcon Ridge facility. These boilers are capable of 94% energy efficiency which should yield an increase in efficiency of 14% to 25%. Falcon Ridge and Central Education Campus have also received new boiler burners for the existing scotch marine boilers. These boilers have been tested to 85% efficiency which is very good for this style boiler.

To date our most amazing energy innovation has been the installation of five AO Smith Cyclone Xi water heaters. Three of these water heaters are installed in our Middle School and two are installed at Falcon Ridge. These water heaters are capable of 96% energy efficiency. In both of these buildings we used to create hot water by the steam from our boiler plant which meant having to run boilers beyond the heating season to create hot water which was not very efficient.

For the most part New Prague Area Schools has had efficient lighting however recently we have changed the lighting in the High School and Middle School gyms. With T5 high output lighting becoming more affordable, we outfitted the gyms with a two tier system. The real savings comes from not only the efficiency of the bulbs but also by using one tier at a time for everything except scheduled competitions.

With the successful completion of the Raven Stream and Eagle View Elementary Schools, we were exposed to a technology called occupancy sensors. These sensors automatically turn on and turn off the lights when motion or sound is present. We have now completed the installation of occupancy sensors throughout the whole district.

Building on the occupancy sensor technology we are currently tying this information to our energy management system. When the sensors are successfully tied in they not only will control the lighting they will also control the heating and air conditioning. What does all of this mean? Well it means that rather than using a schedule to determine when we are heating or cooling a space we now will heat or cool only when a person or a group of people are present. The potential savings are great.

As we move forward and technology continues to create opportunities to save energy and the environment, be assured New Prague Area Schools will do our best to incorporate these technologies.