New high schools have higher energy costs

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer With a 30-foot ceiling, the meeting room at Cosby High School requires more energy to heat and cool.

Chesterfield's two newest high schools have the highest energy costs per square foot, partly caused by their designs. According to the latest available figures, Matoaca High School had the highest cost per square foot of $1.55 for the 12- month period ending June 30, 2008, while Cosby High School was $1.41. The average for all 10 high schools for that period was $1.20 (see chart on page 11).

The replacement for Clover Hill High School, now being built on Genito Road, uses the same design as Cosby High School, created by Moseley Architects. It will open for students in the fall of 2010.

Cosby has generally higher ceilings than Chesterfield's older high schools, including one atrium toward the center of the school soaring about 40 feet high. Another room with a capacity of 365 persons, which is used for meetings, instructional purposes and occasionally for musical programs, has an estimated ceiling height of 30 feet. Some county residents have described Cosby as a "palace."

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer The design of Cosby High School allows more natural light for the school's interior, but the atrium (left) and the walkway with a high ceiling near the cafeteria (right) require more energy to heat and cool.

Matoaca High School has a similar design to Cosby.

Asked if those high ceilings were a design flawregarding energy usage, David Wyman, vice chairman of the school board and head of last year's Growth Taskforce, said, "I wouldn't call it a design flaw because you have trade offs when designing buildings. We seek a certain academic climate…"

Asked the same question, Joe Lenzi, energy manager for the county government and Chesterfield County Public Schools (CCPS), replied, "Buildings that are not energy efficient are an extravagance that we cannot afford." He declined further comment.

"We need to look at the cubic feet and not just the square footage for heating and cooling our new schools," added Wyman. "It's on our radar now for new schools. It was the purpose of the Growth Taskforce to be as efficient as possible with the taxpayers' money so we'll be looking at new designs going forward. Our energy bills have been shooting up. I don't think the taskforce concluded not to build schools with atriums, but we asked staff to review the cubic footage of our schools in the future. The middle and elementary schools don't have those bells and whistles."

Bill Bridgforth, director of construction for CCPS, responded by e-mail, writing that the design was "consistent…[with] comparable state-of-art schools" elsewhere. Cosby High School provides more "direct access to natural light," and more computer use requires additional cooling to offset the increased heat. Newer building codes also require more ventilation, which increases energy use.

Superintendent Marcus Newsome said Cosby's high school design tried to "balance energy efficiency with educational needs. We're being forced to be as efficient as we can."

Last April, he wrote principals at all county schools to "personally help reduce operating costs…One area for potential savings is energy costs, which annually exceed $10 million." That's about 2 percent of CCPS annual budget.

Newsome asked that computers, monitors, lights and audiovisual equipment be turned off when not necessary. When not in use, computers should be powered down, and mobile phone chargers turned off. The number of electrical devices at desks or workstations should be reduced, and air ducts and return grills were not to be obstructed.

Newsome pointed out that CCPS asked for a state audit of its operations starting in September. "We'll be asking the audit team to look at our energy use," he said. He expects the state report to be completed by year's end.

Energy costs for Chesterfield County high schools

High school	Square feet	Total cost*	Cost/sq. ft.
Matoaca	276,270	$427,966	$1.55
Cosby	257,400	$363,733	$1.41
Bird	270,143	$347,601	$1.29
Meadowbrook	292,526	$352,823	$1.21
Thomas Dale	305,157	$367,180	$1.20
James River	270,634	$325,369	$1.20
Manchester	274,345	$327,120	$1.19
Monacan	211,428	$223,754	$1.06
Clover Hill	197,093	$201,076	$1.02
Midlothian	218,768	$194,830	$0.89
Totals	2,573,764	$3,131,453	$1.20**

Source: Energy Management Office of Chesterfield County/CCPS *July 2007-June 2008 **Average cost per square foot