Rockwood Saves More Than $1.7M in Energy Costs

The Rockwood School District has saved nearly $1.73 million in energy costs since September 2018, thanks to retrocommissioning and controls upgrades projects on HVAC systems around the district.

Retrocommissiong is a process by which existing building systems are optimized to perform as efficiently and effectively as possible. Most often system operating parameters are adjusted for energy-consuming core building equipment such as mechanical systems, digital controls and lighting.

Rockwood has worked with the Fenton-based Automatic Controls Equipment Systems to perform these projects in 23 buildings across the district over the past 70 months: Stanton, Woerther, Crestview, Rockwood Summit, Selvidge, Green Pines, Kellison, Rockwood Valley, Pond, the Center for Creative Learning, Marquette, LaSalle Springs, Vandover Early Childhood Center, Kehrs Mill, the Administrative Annex, Bowles, Ridge Meadows, Fairway, Ballwin, Wild Horse, Wildwood, Blevins and Rockwood South.

These projects have realized $1.729 million in total savings, including $111,271 in April and May, and four sites – Crestview, Rockwood Summit, Woerther and Marquette – have seen savings of more than $150,000.

“We are proud of our continuing efforts to explore the most reasonable and cost-effective ways to meet our goals in energy management,” said Rockwood Director of Facilities Chris Freund. “The Facilities Department is always looking for new ways to efficiently and effectively maintain our buildings and grounds across the 150 square miles of the Rockwood School District, and partnerships with companies like Automatic Controls Equipment Systems have helped us be very successful in these efforts.”

This is the continuation of a longstanding emphasis on energy efficiency and fiscal responsibility by the Rockwood Facilities Department, which has also received more than $1.3 million in incentives from Ameren and Spire Energy since 2014.