Two years into an energy conservation partnership with Cenergistic, a national sustainability company, North Little Rock School District (NLRSD) has cut energy consumption 35 percent, an achievement that delivered $1 million in budget savings.
Since program inception in October 2018, the district slashed the average cost per square foot required to power district facilities from $1.14 to $0.78 today. Emissions prevented from conservation equate to avoiding 12 million miles of automobile travel. That lower energy use means lower costs, and savings that can be used for other priorities.
“Creating this level of savings demonstrates the buy-in of the North Little Rock administration,” said Wayne Couldron, a Cenergistic representative. “Our partnership realizes its best results with strong support from both sides, and they’ve coordinated with our Energy Specialist to ensure buildings perfectly balance efficiency and ventilation. We anticipate the 35-percent drop in energy use will result in 12 of 13 district facilities earning ENERGY STAR ® certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
To improve building operations and save costs, NLRSD personnel and the program’s Energy Specialist act as energy watchdogs, working in tandem to audit and optimize energy-using systems across the organization to achieve peak efficiency. The Energy Specialist tracks energy consumption at all campuses with state-of-the-art technology to identify waste and drive conservation. In response to COVID-related shutdowns, the Energy Specialist gave special attention to improving air quality and supporting facilities teams to ensure students could return to healthier classrooms. Through thousands of facility audits, he provided a continuous presence throughout NLRSD schools, identifying hazards, optimizing
equipment and helping implement CDC recommendations for reopening and continued operation.
“Surpassing one million dollars in savings provides our students and staff with added funding for resources critical to student success,” said Brian Brown, Chief Financial Officer at NLRSD. “This is a program that has given dollars back to the budget, ensured buildings were prepared for student arrival and protecting the long-term future of our equipment.”
About North Little Rock School District
The North Little Rock School District and the community will provide for achievement, accountability, acceptance and the necessary assets in the pursuit of each student’s educational success.
About Cenergistic
Since 1986 Cenergistic has partnered with 1490+ educational, municipal government and healthcare organizations to achieve $6 billion in utility savings and cost avoidance. These strong results come from the application of Cenergistic’s organizational behavior-based strategies and are enhanced by our proprietary software platform to drive building and equipment optimization. Our energy conservation program reduces utility consumption by an average of 25% with no capital investment while maintaining or improving the comfort
and quality of building environments. For more than a decade, Cenergistic has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as ENERGY STAR ® Partner of the Year or Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence. To learn more, visit www.cenergistic.com.