Energy Trust of Oregon offers cash incentives to school districts planning to incorporate energy efficiency into their new construction and major renovation projects. These offerings include financial support for early design assistance and energy modeling, as well as equipment installation incentives.

For projects in schematic design or earlier—the phase when the project team begins to develop the mechanical systems, lighting and basic programming for spaces—Energy Trust offers an incentive of $2,500 to hold an early design meeting. Considering energy efficiency at the beginning of a school’s design process ensures energy performance gets – and stays – on the drawing board throughout the project. At an early design meeting, the project team discusses how energy will be used in the building, identifies potential methods for saving energy and cutting costs and sets sustainability goals for the project. Energy Trust staff can attend the events and provide tools to help the team explore all of the potential energy-efficiency solutions and then identify those best suited to the project.

Energy Trust also covers a minimum of 50 percent of the costs of obtaining a whole-building energy model, which forecasts a building’s energy use. With an energy model in hand, a school’s design team can project energy savings and estimate the potential incentive amount for the project. Energy Trust also has options for projects not planning to do energy modeling, including cash incentives for standard energy-efficient equipment and easy-to-use calculators for determining potential incentives available for lighting and HVAC systems.

Energy Trust does more for schools than offer incentives to cut design and construction costs. Outreach representatives and technical experts provide input and guidance to help ensure that schools continue to save energy year after year. To maximize these benefits, however, school districts should contact Energy Trust as early in the design process as possible to discover the full range of opportunities for schools aiming for high-performance.

For more information, contact Elin Shepard, outreach manager for Energy Trust New Buildings, at (503) 314-9021 or eshepard@peci.org. Elin will attend the Annual COSA Professional Development Conference and Expo in Seaside in June and looks forward to meeting you there.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment