Houston Independent School District – Joseph Konkel – 2012

Goals

Joseph Konkel was brought in by Houston Independent School District (HISD), the largest school district in Texas and seventh largest in the United States, to work on behavioral change, lighting, HVAC, refrigeration, water use and more.

Solutions

In HISD’s 1,000 temporary buildings, Konkel identified opportunities to upgrade lighting and HVAC which could save over $2 million and 27 million kilowatt hours annually. At Bellaire Senior High School – Konkel’s alma mater – and Paul W. Horn Elementary,  Konkel identified simple, low-cost energy projects, such as installing occupancy sensors, delamping excess hallway fixtures and shutting down vending machines during the summer. Konkel also recommended behavioral change projects and changes to operational procedures that could reduce HISD’s energy and water consumption. This work overlapped with HISD’s Green Schools Challenge.

Potential Impact

As a group, Konkel’s recommendations could save HISD $21 million in operating costs over the lifetime of the upgrades, enough to pay the salaries of about 40 teachers. The projects would also avoid 16,000 metric tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions.