EcoMotion has earned accolades for our solar and storage consulting. Over the past seven years, EcoMotion has also managed energy efficiency projects worth $27+ million dollars, ~$33 million with associated solar and storage systems.

This brief compiles data from 100 California campuses where EcoMotion has served as energy managers. Much of this work was paid by California Proposition 39, a 2013 bill that taxed out-of-state corporations doing business in California and put the money to work upgrading public schools and community colleges.

LED lighting is certainly the retrofit of the decade, often cutting lighting energy use by 50%. It’s the most cost-effective and pervasive retrofit we’ve specified and managed of late. We’ve done lighting projects with 18 districts and charter schools. All told, we’ve managed the retrofit of 57,153 fixtures. For Murrieta Valley Unified School District, the comprehensive LED lighting retrofit included all classrooms, hallways, multipurpose rooms, gymnasiums, theaters, exit signs, as well as exterior lighting from parking lot lighting to wall packs.

Far less sexy and less cost-effective are HVAC upgrades: heating, ventilating, and air conditioning. EcoMotion has managed the replacement of 272 rooftop and wall-mounted HVAC units for a combined 406.6 tons. We’ve been involved in chiller upgrades, as well as boiler replacements and air handler repairs. For two school districts we installed wireless thermostat systems, in one a direct control ventilation system tied to CO2 levels of occupants. We did a cool roof. We did much work with retro-commissioning campuses and installed 57 energy management dashboards to make vivid both energy use and savings.

In addition, we’ve been involved in retrofitting pool pumps, heaters, and covers. Along the way we helped two schools get electric buses. For eight schools that had tapped out their most pressing efficiency opportunities, EcoMotion helped them get them solar, mostly small systems for charter schools that couldn’t afford them and that are not eligible for financing. The most comprehensive work involved the Santa Rita Union School District where we supported energy-efficient lighting and wireless thermostat controls and then financed and installed 1 MW of solar + 480 kW of storage plus microgrid controls over six campuses.