Fargo Public Schools details $3.5 million annual utility bill, facility upgrades after 2023 assessment

James Hand, director of facilities for Fargo Public Schools, told the Sustainability and Resiliency Committee that a 2023 facilities condition assessment covered almost 3,000,000 square feet across 27 district buildings and included a preliminary energy audit. "We were spending about $2,800,000 on electricity and $860,000 on gas, totaling about 3 and a half million dollars in annual utility expenses across the district," Hand said. The assessment produced building-by-building energy metrics — energy cost index (ECI) and energy use intensity (EUI) — that Hand said identify both efficient sites, including several geothermal schools, and facilities with significant opportunity for improvement. "Davies is a smaller portion of the pie than, say, north or south, partially because it's a geothermal facility," he said. The findings led to a list of recommended actions the district is…