Energy conservation, especially during
the fall and winter months, has always
School District in Rutland, Vt.
With some 3,100 students, the Rutland
School District serves the city of Rutland
and the adjacent communities of Rutland
Town, Chittenden and Mendon.
So it came as no surprise when in 1983
the school board voted to retrofit a middle
school, two elementary schools, a
behavioral management school and an
intermediate school in an effort to lower
the district’s annual heating bill. Each
of the buildings was constructed in the
1950s.
The retrofit entailed the replacement of
all glass walls and brick with an exterior
insulation and finish system, and the
installation of new, high-efficiency windows at three schools. Also included in
the project was the addition of 18 inches
of insulation to all ceilings, the
replacement of inefficient oil burners,
the introduction of energy efficient ballasts
and the replacement of all incandescent
lighting with fluorescent fixtures.
In the process, the district cut oil consumption
from 250,000 to approximately
190,000 gallons a year, according
to Bruce Williams, the school district’s
director of buildings and grounds.
The resulting savings enabled the district
to totally recover its retrofit costs in
just seven years.
When in 1995 the district built a new
high school (pictured) and technical center,
it again selected EIFS to provide an
energy efficient cladding for the buildings. Now the school board is contem plating
5,000-square-foot additions to
each of two elementary schools that are
clad with EIFS. If the project proceeds as
planned, the additions will likely be sided
with EIFS to ensure a uniform look and
to generate additional energy savings.
The performance of the EIFS installed
to date has met or surpassed all of the
district’s expectations, Williams says.
While the cladding has worked well,
there has been minor moisture intrusion
around some of the windows, which
Williams attributes to a lack of proper
caulking and flashing.
“We recognize the need to provide better
maintenance, but we haven’t always
had the manpower or budget to get the
job done to our liking,” he said.
Williams will soon invite bids from contractors
to re-paint the EIFS on some of
the older school buildings, which were
last painted in 1990.
In the meantime, the district is bracing
for another cold winter, and is grateful
that the EIFS cladding continues to
generate substantial savings in fuel costs.
“Thanks, in part, to the EIFS cladding,
our oil consumption has remained very
stable over the years,” Williams asserted.
“The decision to install EIFS on 80 percent
of our buildings has probably saved
us a million dollars.”
