Rochester Public Schools Report $500,000 In Energy Savings

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A partnership between the Rochester School District and an environmental consulting firm has paid off.

The Rochester School Board will review a report that shows the steps implemented by the district and Cenergistic resulted in over a half-million dollars in avoided energy costs in the first year the school system worked with the company to better manage energy use. The actual among was about $541,000, while the goal was set at $537,000. The report describes avoided costs as what the school district would have spent if it had done nothing compared with the actual costs.

The avoided cost figure represents a 13-percent reduction in expenses, while energy consumption was reduced 14-percent. The report equates the savings to eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from 530 homes.

District officials say Cenergistic’s goal is to increase the savings for the second year of the program to $765,000. The arrangement calls for the school district and the company to split the annual savings 50-50.

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