MEA's Program Manager Christopher Russell said the program, which was developed along with the state's Interagency Commission on School Construction, was inspired by a 2021 Maryland statute that required the state’s 24 school districts to develop energy policies and track data on energy use, specifically differentiating between traditional electricity supplies and those from renewable sources. The pilot program is focused on two things: energy data management, which is gathered using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager software, and net-zero energy facility planning. The focus is on school districts that did not have existing capacity to track this data and make these changes, and enabling them to comply with the statute passed last year, Russell said.
Maryland school districts can apply for a grant through April 20 to receive funding to implement data management strategies and develop design ideas for achieving net-zero energy, as well as ask for technical assistance for both those activities. There is a total of $2 million in funding provided by the Strategic Energy Investment Fund for the program. If awarded, districts have a year to implement their data management systems and begin developing plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and control costs.
“Many (school districts) do not currently have the capacity to perform the data-handling duties required by the Chapter 608 statute. MEA's grant offering provides a year of funding to (school districts) so that they can jump-start their data management capacities,” Russell said, adding that districts will be expected to maintain their efforts after the end of the grant period. "If so, the data that they generate will lead to more cost-effective facility design, planning and maintenance.”
This pilot program is something the MEA has been looking into since its Net Zero Energy Schools program, a multiyear effort that provided design and construction funding to build Maryland’s first three net-zero energy schools. What they learned from Net Zero Energy Schools, according to Russell, was that long-term operational costs of net-zero schools might be similar to conventional schools when energy savings, smart planning and alternative capital are factored into decision-making early.
The Decarbonizing Public Schools program will take a wider view, assessing portfolios from entire districts instead of looking at things on a school-by-school basis. So when surveying the second area of interest in the program — achieving net-zero energy, an “emerging design principle,” according to the MEA program manager — the program is for districts to essentially construct a business plan that includes net-zero energy schools within their portfolio. The funds are not dedicated to construction but intended to permit school districts to obtain the consulting help to generate such a business plan, Russell said.
“While the technology focus of the grant is net-zero energy, fulfillment of the grant's deliverables simply requires the gathering, refinement and presentation of useable information and incorporation into long-range facility plans,” he said. He added that the early interest in districts applying for the grant is “substantial,” though they will have a better feel of things after the deadline passes next month.
The administration also hopes the pilot program will accelerate the adoption of energy-saving building technologies across the state. Energy data management will be key to detecting and prioritizing investments that yield valuable energy savings, Russell said.
Editor's note: The original version of this story misidentified the first name of the Maryland Energy Administration's program manager as Chip. His name is Christopher Russell.
