Trane offers no-cost facility assessment; committee to consider client agreement next month

Representatives from Trane told the East Stroudsburg Area School District Property & Facilities Committee that the company can perform a no-cost facility assessment and preliminary financial analysis to identify energy-saving projects, available utility and federal incentives, and funding options the district could use to help pay for capital improvements.

Andrew Odell, a Trane representative, asked the committee to authorize a client agreement to begin facility assessments across district buildings. "The first step in the process... gets our entire team engaged in the process, gets our boots on the ground, and gets us started with the facility assessment at all of your buildings. And it's free," Odell said. Trane representatives described potential funding mechanisms including federal tax incentives tied to renewable energy, state and utility rebates, power-purchase agreements and energy-as-a-service arrangements.

Trane outlined a multi-step process: an initial facility assessment and interviews with staff, a menu of proposed measures and funding scenarios, and then a project development agreement (a breakage fee) to proceed to final design and procurement. Trane said that, where appropriate, it can leverage cooperative purchasing vehicles such as Omnia and can pursue multiple funding sources to maximize upfront incentives and ongoing energy savings.

Committee members asked for the presentation slides and for time to review the proposed client agreement. Staff said they will bring a client-agreement draft to the next Property & Facilities meeting for committee consideration; no motion was required at Wednesday—s session.

Ending: The committee asked staff to circulate Trane's presentation and to schedule the proposed client agreement for the next meeting so members can decide whether to authorize the initial no-cost assessment.