Four-year project has made Wayne schools energy-efficient

WAYNE — A project the district started four years ago to improve energy efficiency in its 16 buildings has been completed.

The more than $14 million in savings expected through rebates and costs for operations and utilities over the next 15 years should cover the project’s cost, said school officials.

Improvements included 16,165 upgrades to light fixtures, replacement of 15 boilers at eight schools and installation of an energy-management system. The district also invested in 2,141 motion detectors for interior lights and 433 exterior LEDs.

All 14 of the K-12 district’s schools, in addition to its administration building on Nellis Drive and former Preakness schoolhouse on Hamburg Turnpike, now used as a branch of the public library, were upgraded.

The project was contemplated as part of the district’s Energy Savings Improvement Plan the Board of Education approved in January 2014. The plan was prepared by Ameresco, a Massachusetts-based renewable-energy company.

Gregory Somjen, the district’s architect, said at an April school board meeting construction of the improvements was finished in January, while “measurement and verification” of energy savings to be achieved by them is under way this spring.