NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ABM (NYSE:ABM), a leading provider of facility solutions, announced its ABM Building Services business has been selected by Orange County, VA Public Schools to implement division-wide energy and infrastructure upgrades to the educational institution through ABM’s Bundled Energy Solutions Program. The project is expected to significantly improve the schools’ learning environment as a result of lighting, heating, cooling and indoor air quality upgrades, while saving Orange County Public Schools an estimated $9.3 million in energy and operating costs over 15 years.
ABM’s Bundled Energy Solutions Program is designed as a financial solution to meet clients’ technical facility needs and sustainability goals. For ABM, the goal is to drive costs out of a client’s operating budget to allow savings to be reallocated to fund mission critical facility needs.
“ABM’s Bundled Energy Solutions Program provides a long term and sustainable solution for Orange County Public Schools that will benefit the school for several decades,” said Scott Giacobbe, President of ABM Building & Energy Solutions. “We understand the budgetary constraints schools are under, and our BES program has been able to help a number of our educational clients make critical infrastructure upgrades without burdening taxpayers.”
The project is expected to reduce the school’s utility costs by 32% over 15 years. In addition, the project has no incremental capital cost and does not require any additional tax burden on the community or programmatic cuts for the school. The improvements are 100% funded through the existing operating budget and the results are guaranteed.
“Raising revenue via increased taxes to fund lighting, heating, and air conditioning modernization projects up front in our schools was not an option in Orange County,” said Doug Arnold, Coordinator of Facilities and Maintenance at Orange County Public Schools. “Without ABM’s solution, we would have been left continually patching our old inefficient lighting and unreliable, energy wasting HVAC equipment, and controls for the foreseeable future. Energy performance contracting via ABM’s program allows us to perform $6.2 million worth of projects and be guaranteed enough energy savings to cover these costs, plus the financing costs, over a 15 year period.”
The improvements will be made across the division’s 10 schools and buildings. Energy-efficiency upgrades include: installing new high-efficiency LED lights, considerably reducing energy usage; replacing heating and cooling systems, improving indoor air quality and reducing humidity problems; and implementing an energy efficient PC Power Management solution by putting unused computers in a low power state, saving energy and prolonging the lifetime of the IT equipment.
ABM also identified opportunities for energy and operational savings in five different school buildings by implementing advanced fuel sourcing and fuel conversion strategies, including switching the heating fuel from fuel oil to propane. Propane is considerably less expensive and more environmentally friendly than fuel oil due to its lower carbon dioxide output. It is also approved as an alternative clean fuel, listed in the 1990 Clean Air Act and the National Energy Policy Act of 1992, and doesn’t contaminate soil or water if a leak occurs.
“School systems are under extreme financial pressures,” explained Jeffrey Buennemeyer, Vice President of Mid-Atlantic for ABM Building Services. “While tax bases and capital resources are shrinking fast, students’ performance expectations are at an all-time high and a comfortable learning environment is a big part of that. The solutions developed in partnership with Orange County Public Schools will revitalize the schools’ infrastructure and significantly reduce costs, while being 100% funded through the client’s current operating budget. We are proud to partner with Orange County Public Schools on this solution.”
ABOUT ABM
ABM (NYSE: ABM) is a leading provider of facility solutions with revenues exceeding $4 billion and 100,000 employees in over 350 offices deployed throughout the United States and various international locations. ABM’s comprehensive capabilities include facilities engineering, commercial cleaning, energy solutions, HVAC, electrical, landscaping, parking and security, provided through stand-alone or integrated solutions. ABM provides custom facility solutions in urban, suburban and rural areas to properties of all sizes — from schools and hospitals to the largest and most complex facilities, such as manufacturing plants and major airports. ABM Industries Incorporated, which operates through its subsidiaries, was founded in 1909. For more information, visit www.abm.com.