Chippewa Falls School District

The Chippewa Falls Area School District has been working with Focus on Energy for many years and has completed several projects including upgrading their parking lot lighting, pool boilers, domestic hot water system and installing variable frequency drives.

The district has gone beyond completing standard projects to taking advantage of special Focus on Energy programs like the Whole Building Lighting Program (WBLP), a limited-time program that promoted innovative energy reduction through advanced lighting design.

By completing this project, Chippewa Falls Area School District will save more than 299,431 kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough energy to power 30 Wisconsin homes for a year. "It is well documented that appropriate lighting levels are necessary to promote a healthy learning environment. The Focus on Energy incentive and the annual savings from this project allow us to provide appropriate, efficient, lighting while creating financial savings into the future that can be used for classroom educational activities," said Randy Knowlton, Director of Buildings, Grounds, and Safety at Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District. The school district will see an annual energy cost savings equal to $40,738.

Not only do these upgrades save energy and money, but they're also environmentally friendly. The annual environmental benefits are equivalent to offsetting 589 barrels of oil from being burned – eliminating more than 506,637 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being released into the atmosphere.