Opportunity

Since 2011, Albuquerque Public Schools and New Mexico Gas Company have teamed up on several energy-saving projects. After the success of simple upgrades like programmable thermostats and high-efficiency aerators in reducing energy waste throughout the school district, they were ready to push their energy efficiency efforts further.

Project

In partnership with the school district’s engineering contractor Mountain Vector, New Mexico Gas Company’s Efficient Buildings Program ran a boiler control optimisation pilot in 2015. Four Albuquerque schools had their atmospheric boilers retrofitted with M2G boiler controls. While atmospheric boilers cannot be upgraded by traditional combustion efficiency means, the M2G was designed to measure boiler loop inlet and outlet temperatures, resulting in a significant reduction in dry cycling.

Results

The results from the pilot program speak for themselves. The four schools averaged 8.9% energy savings on school days and 15.6% on non-school days. Albuquerque Public Schools moved forward and retrofitted 83 boilers across 15 schools, with New Mexico Gas Company providing $100,000 in rebates. After seeing an estimated annual savings of 196,565 therms and an average payback period of 2.2 years, Albuquerque Public Schools is getting ready to complete another round of M2G installations in late 2017.