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Consultant outlines $2M ventilation/HVAC package and $20M long-term capital plan for Winthrop schools
Summary
Energy Management Consultants presented ventilation, VRF HVAC, building-envelope and solar options, noted realized savings from a prior lighting/boiler phase, and modeled a $2,000,000 priority package with estimated annual financing costs and a broader $20,000,000 district program.
Tom Seekins, president of Energy Management Consultants, told the Winthrop School Board the district's older buildings show widespread ventilation and HVAC deficiencies and presented prioritized remediation options and funding pathways.
Seekins summarized earlier work on boilers and LED conversions that produced an estimated savings of $148,000 and realized savings of about $229,000. He said priority measures focused on the portions of the grade school with no mechanical ventilation and on half the classrooms at the 50-year-old middle school. One planning scenario he presented had a $2,000,000 project budget and modeled an annual financing contribution of $176,000 beginning in 2028 under a tax-exempt lease-purchase; he characterized a full-district program as roughly a $20,000,000 effort. "If we just selected AC, which is an air handler that does .5 of all the classrooms at the middle school...that's a budget of $2,000,000," Seekins said.
He described technical options including energy-recovery ventilation units and VRF systems that can simultaneously heat and cool, noted the district's chiller and unit ventilators are near or past end of life and that some equipment uses obsolete refrigerant (R-22). Seekins recommended pursuing competitive bids and using open building-automation platforms to avoid vendor lock-in; he also described grant and incentive opportunities including state revolving renovation funds and federal Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives that can cover a portion of solar installations.
Board members asked how energy savings would be accounted for when bringing ventilation to spaces that previously had none; Seekins said the state allows an "adjusted baseline" for savings calculation but that bringing in outside air can raise energy use even if overall efficiency improves. The board did not take a motion on the capital plan in this meeting and asked for the presentation slides to be circulated for further consideration.
