Fox Chapel board hears facility condition study, approves $10 million bond to fund energy and infrastructure work

The Fox Chapel Area School District on Aug. 11 received a facility condition assessment and phased plan from Cyclone Energy Group outlining efficiency, electrification and renewable-energy options for its schools and approved a bond resolution to raise roughly $10 million to start priority projects.

Cyclone Energy Group President Benjamin A. Skelton told the school board his team reviewed nearly a century of building records and inspected the high school, middle school, Fairview and O'Hara schools and the field house. "By far, this is the best district I've ever seen as far as the quality of the maintenance and the upkeep on facilities," Skelton said, then outlined a three-phase approach built around benchmarking, building-efficiency upgrades and later electrification and on-site generation.

The study found the district is heavily dependent on natural gas for heating, with about two-thirds of site energy use in that fuel, and identified common problems: obsolete boilers and chillers, limited visibility in the building automation systems (BAS), non-LED lighting in many classrooms, and poor envelope performance at some sites such as O'Hara. Cyclone recommended a near-term "phase 1" package of upgrades (controls, more efficient boilers, lighting and envelope repairs) that the firm said could typically deliver about 20% energy savings at most buildings. For Fox Chapel High School specifically, Skelton estimated a 20% reduction could save roughly $170,000 a year; deeper measures approaching 40% savings could save about $265,000 annually.

Skelton said the district's Energy Star benchmarking scores are low not because of custodial care but because aging equipment and limited controls prevent staff from adjusting systems to save energy. "They really can't do anything other than try to just let it do its things so things don't fail," he said, describing roughly 90% of equipment in one building as lacking visibility in the BAS. He…