The parents and teachers at Holy Trinity
School are happy, but maybe some students are not. Some students may
have been very pleased that school was frequently dismissed early on
very hot days due to the lack of air conditioning, but thanks to the
new geothermal heating and cooling system that doesn’t happen
anymore.The Holy Trinity campus consists of several interconnected buildings; the old convent now used as office space, a middle school, a K-5 school, and the church. Prior to the renovations two aging energy-inefficient boilers heated the campus, with varying degrees of success: some classrooms used to have windows open in the winter because the heat was distributed so badly.
The church, some offices and the middle school were air conditioned with a collection of rooftop and window units. But the K-5 building was not air conditioned, and with school starting in the middle of August they were losing too many classrooms hours due to early dismissals.
The 1950’s K-5 building also needed lighting and general cosmetic improvements.
Tom Nolan, a member of the finance council at Holy Trinity who also served on the building committee, says it was a win-win situation. The committee discovered that geothermal was actually the least expensive way to go for the K-5 building when they looked at solving the heat distribution problems and adding air conditioning.
To improve their whole campus, Holy Trinity was able to install:
• Two high energy efficient boilers to replace the old ones. The boilers feed a common header so only one needs to run to handle the bulk of the heating load. The other provides backup and peak heating capacity on the coldest days, if necessary.
The K-5 building received:
• Geo-thermal system for 12 classrooms. This consisted of 10 wells, 12 heat pumps and related piping. It needs no backup heat source.
• New duct work, new flooring and a dropped ceiling to improve air flow, sound control and general esthetics. This also eliminated the hot spots from the old steam pipes and radiators.
• New energy efficient T-8 lighting.
• Repainted the entire building.
The new measures at Holy Trinity are in keeping with the philosophy that Tom brings from his 30 years working in the utility industry with a finance, accounting and customer service background. It’s more cost effective to produce ‘negawatts’ of avoided use (electricity saved by not using it) than to build new plants to generate additional energy.
Reverend Amadeo who came to Holy Trinity after the renovation plans were in place says, “The far-sighted thinking (of the committee) and their awareness of the importance of energy efficiency is a good example of how this will not only serve the Holy Trinity community today; but will continue to care for God’s creation by using fewer resources and reducing air emissions.”
The building committee is in the beginning stages of reviewing next steps for improving the campus, and Tom notes that there is room in the well field for five more wells which would have enough capacity to handle the heating and cooling load for the old convent building.
So now the students at Holy Trinity can enjoy full days of study in their newly air-conditioned classrooms. There are still snow days….
For more information contact Tom Nolan at tnolan@saintfrancischurch.org.