LEARN MORE AT
energystar.gov
ENERGY STAR®, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
program, helps us all save money and protect our environment
through energy efficient products and practices. For more
information, visit www.energystar.gov.

How Seaford School District Met the Mark for Energy Efficiency
The Seaford School District (Seaford SD), a rural school system in southwestern Delaware,
implemented an energy management plan that has reduced its portfolio-wide energy consumption
by 16 percent annually, saving nearly 8.2 million kBtus of energy. As a result, the district is saving
an estimated $100,000 in annual energy costs and preventing nearly one million pounds of C02
emissions per year. Through its energy efficiency efforts, Seaford SD offsets the C02 emissions of
approximately 105 vehicles or 53 households.
Commitment
Seaford SD began their efforts with a strong first step—a solid commitment to a highly effective
energy management plan. The commitment came from senior management, the school board,
taxpayers, school staff, and students. This enabled Seaford SD's Buildings and Grounds
Department to assess the performance of all of the facilities, set goals, identify energy savings
opportunities, and create and successfully implement action plans. The result has been an
impressive cycle of continuous energy savings, positive public relations, national recognition, and
substantial cost savings that will ease the school's financial burden for years to come.
Organization and Education
Seaford SD's energy improvements stem from the efforts of an organized energy team, ied by Roy
Whitaker, Chief of Buildings and Grounds. Mr. Whitaker has access to the skills of internal and
external team members. The energy team on staff includes two technicians who are primarily
responsible for maintaining all of the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning plants. They
collaborate with six building chiefs, a night shift supervisor, and 29 janitors who are directly
responsible for the six schools. The building chiefs and their janitorial staffs take responsibility for
the day-to-day operations of the school buildings, environmental controls and programs, and
preventive maintenance The final, critical component of the energy management plan involved the
faculty, staff, and students who spend their days inside the schools. They, too. have learned how to
use best energy management practices and follow the energy regulations as outlined in the district's
energy policy, documents ECF and ECF-R.
Energy Performance Benchmarking and Tracking
Using data from their monthly utility bills and EPA's online
energy performance rating system (available at
www.energystar.gov/benchmark), Seaford SD staff has
established a baseline for each school and then tracks the
performance of all six buildings, representing 520,048
square feet. With technical review and school-to-school
comparisons, the energy team is able to identify the least
efficient buildings and focus efficiency projects where they
are most needed.
Technical Improvements and Systems Upgrades
Seaford SD's success can be attributed in large part to the ability of the energy team to garner
support for funding based on demonstrations of expected energy savings. Working together, the
Seaford SD team has achieved energy performance improvements through a series of equipment
and operational changes that included:
•	Cleaning boilers in all school buildings.
•	Upgrading lighting systems to high-efficiency T8 and T5 lights in gyms and classrooms.
•	Upgrading windows to high efficiency window overlays, resulting in an instantaneous 20%+
reduction in heating fuel consumption. These commercial grade windows have an extremely
long life cycle and have helped reduce energy use intensity in one building by an impressive
15.8 kBtus/sf compared to the baseline.
•	Installing and testing new equipment such as on-demand heating of domestic hot water
systems designed to eliminate standby losses. Using innovative hot water configurations,
"...the benchmarking process has been the
backbone of our teams' Energy Management
Program. We understood from the initiation
of our energy performance improvement
efforts that all meaningful analysis and
improvements stem from this critical first
process, which involves establishing baseline
energy use and comparing the relative
energy performance of our facilities."
¦ Roy Whitaker
	

-------
Seaford SD has reduced the size of hot water tanks by as much as 75%. In one case, an
$1,800 investment led to a 50% reduction in system use, saving more than $300 per month and
paying for itself in about 6 months.
•	Installing radiant heating systems that improved comfort while conserving energy and being
compatible with solar heating.
•	Installing new building equipment, such as a new pump frequency drive, timer controls for the
fuel oil booster pumps, a high efficiency chiller, heat timer boiler controls, electric to gas
dishwasher boosters, new kitchen hoods, and a high efficiency transformer.
•	Installing, reprogramming, and on-going re-tuning of a Web-based control system that has
decentralized the mechanical system control and provided the ability to instantly review system
parameters within each school.
•	Installing high efficiency dehumidification equipment in every classroom to improve indoor air
quality while simultaneously reducing the energy load and electrical consumption from central
plant chillers.
Operational Improvements
In addition to technical upgrades, Seaford SD has achieved its improved energy efficiency through
integrated operations management. As part of this effort, the Seaford SD teacher's union worked
with the administration to develop agreements on conservation measures for the classrooms. Staff
accepted the energy conservation measures, including reduced temperatures (68-70 degrees) in
the heating season, keeping superfluous lights off, eliminating unused plug loads, and more. When
challenged by unbudgeted electricity cost increases, they implemented even more conservation
measures such as turning lights off in the sun-lit hallways and restrooms. This prevented the cost
increases from affecting Seaford SD's educational mission. Any concerns the educators have about
systems operations are addressed to their respective building chiefs who can perform spot
temperature surveys or they can temporarily place data loggers in the space to confirm proper
system operation or need for repairs.
Recognition
Seaford SD earned the ENERGY STAR for each
of its six buildings and was the third school district
in the nation to achieve the ENERGY STAR
Leaders recognition for improvements in energy
efficiency portfolio wide. The local newspaper
carried a photograph and story on the six
ENERGY STAR awards received by the six
building managers. The story about Leaders
recognition was also carried by local papers and appeared in an EPA press release. Public
awareness has been generated by information posted on the front page of the Seaford SD Web
site. And the Superintendent and school board recognized the special efforts made by Seaford SD
staff at a well attended public school board meeting. By following the example of Seaford SD, every
school district has opportunities to improve energy performance through ENERGY STAR and
achieve similar success. For more information, visit: www.enerqvstar.gov or contact Mr. Whitaker at
rwhitaker@seaford.k12.de.us
..while being environmentally and fiscally responsible
is a reward within itself, Seaford SD's success with
ENERGY STAR has created the opportunity to share
our successes with others during outreach events,
press events, and training activities. One example...
local Senator Tom Carper found out about Seaford
SD's energy efficiency efforts and requested a tour of
our facility. The Senator's tour prompted television
coverage of Seaford SD's efficiency efforts."
- Roy Whitaker

-------