Decarbonizing schools by working smarter, not harder, with Elexity
Let’s face it, the lure of a new basketball court is always going to slam dunk energy equipment. Until now.
School buildings have the potential to be star students in the race to decarbonization, says Mike Grenier, the President of Elexity, a company decarbonizing commercial buildings using predictive AI to increase energy efficiency. WattCarbon spoke with Grenier to discuss how he’s decarbonizing schools in California and the wider opportunity with commercial building decarbonization.
This article is part of WattCarbon’s Every Watt-Hour Tells a Story series, spotlighting how WattCarbon partners are deploying distributed clean energy to achieve climate impact, here and now.
The challenge
Climate action isn’t always up for discussion, but everyone can agree on keeping kids comfortable in the classroom. So what’s the holdup with decarbonizing America’s schools?
Here’s the catch-22: school buildings need upgrades, but they can’t afford to pay for it. Pushing energy upgrades to “next year”, schools are compounding costs thanks to inefficient energy systems and dependency on expensive fossil fuels, delaying vital decarbonization projects needed to save the planet.
Luckily Elexity and its President Mike Grenier are changing that.
The big idea: making hot stuffy classrooms a thing of the past
Using predictive AI to find ways to save building owners money and reduce emissions, Elexity automatically adjusts commercial building controls to cut pollution and bills.
Elexity's building automation software helps schools optimize their energy use, reduce costs, and reinvest the savings into educational resources and infrastructure improvements. For most buildings, Elexity’s optimizations immediately cut emissions and energy bills by 10-20%, before implementing any other energy efficiency projects. That’s working smarter, not harder.
The savings really pick up when Elexity’s software identifies the best opportunities for new energy efficiency projects, and serves as a control system to maximize performance. This includes a school project in San Diego, where Elexity installed demand management and building control software along with a 1.86MW solar project and 110 HVAC units, providing the school with a game-changing annual bill savings of 75%.
Speaking on the project, Mike Grenier shares that “The CFO loved the fact that the electricity savings guarantee cash savings. It turns an expense into an investment where it pays for itself in less than two years.”
How it works
School buildings are classed as commercial buildings, meaning the way utilities charge for power can be particularly challenging. Unlike residential buildings, which typically have simpler billing structures, commercial buildings face complex demand charges and time-of-use pricing. Energy demand charges are based on the maximum amount of energy used in a 15-minute period each month, which can account for over 50% of a commercial building's electricity bill. Time-of-use pricing further complicates matters, with charges varying significantly depending on the time of day.
For instance, electricity used during peak hours (typically 4PM to 9PM) can be four to five times more expensive than during off-peak hours, because they have to tap into super polluting fossil-fuel-powered “peaker plants” to meet surging demand. Peaker plants are significant sources of carbon pollution and disproportionately affect lower-income communities and people of color.
Elexity addresses these challenges by optimizing the timing of energy use and coordinating HVAC systems, solar arrays, and batteries to minimize peak demand and shift consumption to cheaper off-peak periods. This optimization reduces energy costs and allows buildings to sell excess energy back to the grid during peak times, reducing carbon emissions and enhancing revenue.
The hidden cost of school energy inefficiency
Schools represent a unique climate opportunity. Their energy bill pain point is a lot higher than other sectors––schools want to reinvest all their spare cash into kids, not creating the same old cool air. Due to old building inefficiencies, they also waste more energy.
To put the schools’ opportunity in context––the 17,450 K-12 U.S. school districts spend more than $6 billion annually on energy––more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined––with a third wasted due to structural building inefficiencies.
That’s why Elexity’s energy efficiency solution makes climate action a more attractive proposition. Grenier explains, “by performing a simple smart thermostat upgrade, we can immediately reduce bills and emissions by a minimum of 10-20%, delivering schools a healthy paycheck and paying off the equipment in two years or less.”
Climate change can sometimes be a hard sell, but everyone, especially cash-strapped schools, can get on board with saving money.
Why school upgrades don’t happen
At schools, clean energy decisions don’t happen fast. That’s because consensus is required at a board level. For Elexity, the process looks like talking with the facilities team, then management, then the board, a process which can be slow and political.
Bringing money to the table to cover upfront costs by way of EAC investments makes it a much easier “yes” for schools to hit “go” on vital decarbonization upgrades, which otherwise wouldn’t happen.
Let’s face it, the lure of a new basketball court is always going to slam dunk energy equipment.
Classrooms are facing a pollution-rooted health crisis
K-12 schools should offer environments where all students can reach their fullest potential. With most schools burning fossil fuels for heat and hot water––this isn’t always possible.
Because of climate change, schools are cooling down slower at the beginning of the school year and heating up faster at the end of it. An estimated 36,000 public schools nationwide lack adequate HVAC systems, and due to rising temperatures, 13,700 public schools that did not need cooling in 1970 will need it by 2025.
Furthermore, hotter schools with lower air quality can reduce the quality of learning and may lead to lower test scores. Similarly, poor air quality, such as in schools with increasing exposure to wildfire smoke, can also impact children’s development and learning; leading to higher rates of absenteeism for students and staff. Ten years ago, school districts “canceled classes an average of three or four days a year” for heat; according to recent studies, today, that number has nearly doubled.
On top of this, clean air in schools is an environmental justice issue. Access to air conditioning (A/C) in schools varies by demographic group. Black and Hispanic students are 1.6% more likely to be in schools with inadequate A/C than white students, and lower-income students are 6.2% more likely to be in schools with inadequate A/C than higher-income students.
The writing on the chalkboard is clear: decarbonize our schools, now.
The future of our energy system
Elexity’s ultimate goal?
“I want to provide an A+ control system for all schools, with real-time optimization functions to maximize bill savings, increase grid resilience and interactivity, and help kids breathe clean air,” shares Grenier.
By transforming commercial buildings into dynamic participants in the energy grid, Elexity is able to not only cut building emissions and save energy but also activate buildings to contribute towards a more stable and efficient energy system.
“We’re excited by what Elexity is achieving in California and across the U.S. to get our buildings working in a smarter, more coordinated way to boost grid resiliency, generate energy efficiency savings, and ensure clean air for schools,” shares WattCarbon’s CEO and founder, McGee Young.
He continues, “Schools represent a prime opportunity to accelerate building decarbonization to reduce pollution, improve health outcomes for students, and save significant money. Why not also address the climate crisis and put our schools at the forefront of climate action? When the future of the planet rests on our kids' shoulders, the least we can do is clean up their classrooms and cut their bills.”
Get involved
Interested in learning more? Discover school decarbonization investment opportunities with Elexity on the WattCarbon Marketplace.
This is a great program!!! I hope WattCarbon can play a meaningful role.