Cost-Savings and Comfort with Zoned Technology

Inviting Spaces

St. Joseph School was able to save money on electric bills and increase overall comfort with Zoned Comfort Solutions from Mitsubishi.

St. Joseph School (St. Joseph’s), a small, private Catholic school in Pilot Grove, MO., has been in operation since 1902. Since its establishment, the school has been educating students between grades one through eight. After many years running on an outdated boiler system and noisy window units, the school needed to find a system that could efficiently cool and heat the 5,400-square-foot building year-round without disrupting day-to-day activities. The solution: Zoned Comfort Solutions from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating (Mitsubishi Electric).

The renovation started with a need for comfort. Nichole Watring, principal, says, “The boiler system that was in place previously didn’t heat the rooms evenly. The building is a two-story building with a basement, and the upstairs rooms were always much warmer than the downstairs rooms. There wasn’t a way for the teachers to control the temperature in their rooms, and the window units for the A/C were very noisy. It was hard to hear when the units were running, but when they were turned off, the rooms warmed up quickly.”

With these needs in mind, the school began its search for a new system and reached out to Jamie Callahan, director of field operations, Air and Water Solutions, Columbia, MO., to assist in the process. Immediately, Callahan believed there was only one solution for St. Joseph’s—zoned technology.

With the technology selected, Callahan offered Zoned Comfort Solutions from Mitsubishi Electric as the brand for the school to install.

Since installation, Callahan has received nothing but positive feedback from the school, specifically with the system’s ability to offer cost savings. He says, “From what I’ve heard, the school went from paying thousand dollar electric bills to paying $245 a month. That’s nearly 25 percent of the original cost.”

www.mitsubishipro.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management March 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2026 Education Design Showcase Awards

    Spaces4Learning has opened submissions for the 2026 Education Design Showcase! The awards program launched in 1999 with the goal of celebrating innovative, practical solutions in the planning, design, and construction of K–12 and higher-education facilities. EDS recognizes new developments that help achieve optimal learning environments, as well as the architecture firms that brought the ideas to life.

  • North Texas School District Completes Third New Elementary School

    The Denton Independent School District in Dallas, Texas, recently finished construction on its third prototype design elementary school, Reeves Elementary, according to a news release.

  • Niles West High School Natatorium Renovation

    Natatoriums are highly specialized spaces, and luminaires in this setting face several unique challenges. Perhaps the most significant is corrosion, which is exacerbated by high indoor humidity, condensation, and pool chemicals, often resulting in material degradation in luminaires not certified to perform in corrosive environments.

  • blurry image capturing students navigating crowded hallways between classes

    How Human Behavior Data Is Reshaping Campus Facilities Management

    The ebb and flow of students, faculty, and administrators across a campus have a larger impact on maintenance, cleaning, and sustainability than many realize.