Mulvane School District

The Mulvane School District, located near Wichita, KS, comprises seven buildings: Mulvane High School, Mulvane Middle School, Mulvane Grade School, Munson Primary, Mulvane Academy/Bloomenshine, the district office, and the transportation building. The district’s mission is to prepare all students with academic and life skills while respecting the diverse social, educational, and cultural characteristics of each individual student.

As a growing district, administrators needed to budget for new buildings, building expansions, and renovations to existing buildings and systems. Many of the primary heating and air conditioning systems in the existing buildings were reaching the end of their life and in need of replacement, and there were a multitude of other maintenance needs that needed to be addressed throughout the district. Successfully implementing the renovation and new construction work in parallel would require precision planning and coordination.

ESP worked with the district to develop a two phase solution that prioritized the replacement of aging and failed systems along with those that would generate the most energy savings.

Phase 1:

The first phase tackled the majority of district buildings and replaced key pieces of the heating and air conditioning infrastructure, with replacement of the boiler at the district office being one of the top priorities. Also included in phase one were lighting retrofits and lighting controls, water-saving plumbing fixtures, weatherization of exterior openings and joints, expansion of the energy management system, vending machine controls, retro-commssioning, and energy conservation training.

Phase 2:

The second phase focused on Munson Primary, which was in the process of being renovated and added on to. A state-of-the-art variable refrigerant flow (VRF) heating and air-conditioning system was installed in place of the old two-pipe system, along with new lighting, weatherization, expansion of the building controls, and the replacement of a roof-top unit.

In addition to addressing a significant amount of ongoing maintenance headaches, the district gained increased comfort control in many buildings. Using energy savings to pay for the renovations allowed the district to focus capital dollars on expansion and other district needs.