Livingston School District

Following a lighting audit and recommendations made by the Montana Resource Efficiency Program (MREP), the Livingston (Montana) School District is poised to save over $36,000 in lighting costs each year.

The School District is comprised of five schools, which collectively serve a student body of some 1,400 students from late August until late May each year. In addition, the district maintains a bus barn.

Based on recommendations from MREP, the school district is currently converting its lighting to LED.  The lighting throughout the District was primarily fluorescent T8 fixtures with the exception of the high school, which was retrofitted with 28-watt T5 fluorescents in 2011 when it was remodeled. Lighting accounted for nearly 25% of the districts electric consumption. Total electric usage for the district is shown in the table below.

Utility	Annual Use (kWh)	Total Annual Cost ($)
Total Electric Usage	1,465,124	$190,176
Park High School	757,620	$82,569
Eastside and Sleeping Giant	476,640	$52,507
Winans Elementary	61,888	$7,262
Washington Elem.	40,852	$5,635

The estimated cost to upgrade lighting in the schools was $30,750 after utility rebates were applied.  Annual energy cost savings is estimated at $36,692, for a simple payback of just over 10 months. This payback can be shortened further by rising utility rates and increased longevity of the LED bulbs.

Considering the cost of the short payback, this project was a sound investment for the District. Costs, savings, rebates, and payback are detailed below.

Livingston Schools	Annual Bill Savings	Est. Project Cost	Est. Rebates	Net Project Cost	KWh Savings	Simple Payback
LED Conversion	$36,692	$74,862	$44,112	$30,750	319,627	0.84 years