Worcester's South High Gets Smart
New heating and cooling system to save $280,000 over life of equipment
Eight several-ton metal boxes sit atop the roof of Worcester's South High School. Few see them. Few hear them. But on any given day, those inside the school feel their presence.
The boxes are massive, natural gas-fired heating and air conditioning units that form half of the climate system for 30-year-old, 246,000-square-foot school. The units - 11 more of which will be installed this summer - also incorporate state of the art green technology that vastly reduces the amount of fuels used by the school. They recycle much of the energy used to heat and cool while replenishing the hallways and classrooms with a constant stream of fresh air from outside.
Energy Smarts
"I'm extremely happy with what we've been able to do with these projects," said Jeff Lassey, facilities director for Worcester's school system. "The savings generated by these new units are good news for the schools, and good news for the environment."
The $2 million upgrade to the school was no easy task. South High was designed and built in the 1970s, and used inefficient electric heat systems - a relic of technology that was comparably cheap as a source of heat 30 years ago but is now an expensive commodity.
Lassey and his crew took a long look at the plans and decided "we have to come up with a way to improve this," he said. "We have a fixed capital budget. We decided to tackle it in sizes we can handle and if needed, in a phased approach."
The first phase called for a sizable upgrade to the natural gas delivery system at the school and replacing half of the school's 22 roof-mounted heating and cooling units - both of which were completed earlier this year.
"The bids came in very favorably," Lassey said, adding that the first several phases cost roughly $1 million, about half the total cost of the upgrades.
A major component of the upgrade was a technology the school system first used back in 2005 at Doherty Memorial, another of the city's larger high schools. At the time, the school's boiler system has been failing and as part of a system upgrade, it installed a unique heat exchanging device built by Airxchange Inc. of Rockland.
The devices are one inch wide wheels, about six feet in diameter, which circulate outside air into buildings. In doing so, the devices transfer much of the heat from air streams that enter or exit a building. In the winter, for instance, they pull in cool, outside air and heat it using the air it's blowing out. In the summer, they can also pull in warm outside air and cool it.
"These devices can really help reduce heating bills, as well as the emissions that go in to heating and cooling buildings like South High," said Randall Steele of Airxchange. "They save operating dollars, but also cut down on fossil fuels and emissions."
In all, the rooftop units with integrated wheels save South High about 704,000 BTUs per hour of heating equipment requirements and 81 kilowatts of electricity. The average estimated heating and cooling savings are roughly $14,000, or more than $280,000 over the life of the equipment.
But Lassey said the true savings are turning out to be even higher than initially anticipated. "The gas company was at the school the other day checking the meter and they couldn't believe how little we were using."
It's not just the money that's being spared. Over the next 20 years, the eight units on top of South High will reduce CO2 emissions by 1,380 tons. Even more will be spared one the remaining units are installed.
"We've all been extremely happy with the way this came together," Lassey said. "It's much more environmentally friendly and cost efficient. And I'm very pleased that we were able to get this project done so quickly."
Ken St. Onge is a freelance writer based in Connecticut and is a native of Worcester.
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