North Linn school district makes elementary school more energy efficient

The North Linn Community School District worked with Alliant Energy to install energy-efficient technology in the new wing of its elementary school that will save the district more than $70,000 a year in energy costs.

The district upgraded to geothermal heating and cooling and installed new lighting technologies to minimize indoor lighting and maximize daylight.

North Linn Community Schools Superintendent Karl Kurt said in a press release that these upgrades will reduce the school's annual energy use by almost 800,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), which equates to more than $84,000 in annual energy savings.

The school district also earned $147,182 in rebates from the Madison, Wis.-based utility.

The school participated in Alliant's Commercial New Construction program, which evaluates potential energy conservation strategies for new and renovated building projects.

To qualify, the energy-efficient enhancements must create savings of at least 15 percent greater-than-projected energy use if the facility had just been built to the required Iowa building code.