Metro Energy Solutions Announces Contract with the Summit, NJ Board of Education

West Caldwell, NJ January, 2005 – Metro Energy Solutions, an engineering and energy consulting company based in West Caldwell, New Jersey, announced today it has entered into an agreement with the Summit, New Jersey Board of Education.  Metro Energy’s contract involves redesigning the lighting system throughout all seven of Summit’s school facilities, as well as providing project management and administering the New Jersey SmartStart Buildings rebate program on behalf of the school district. 

Initially, the Summit BOE attempted to solicit bids for a lighting retrofit, only to receive two responses that varied tremendously in both scope and price, making it virtually impossible to decide between the two.  It was at that point the school district decided to enlist the expertise of Metro Energy Solutions.  “When I was contacted by Paul Griggs, Business Administrator for the Summit BOE, he asked me if we could help.  He had two bids that varied by almost $600,000,” stated Robert Ragozine, COO of Metro Energy Solutions.  “Not only were the prices significantly different, but the scope was as well.  After I reviewed the bids and met with the school district, I told Mr.Griggs that we could design a better project for the district and save them $200,000 in project costs, even after they paid for our services.” 

The project involves redesigning the lighting systems in all seven school buildings to incorporate new fixtures.  The design criteria included improving light levels throughout the buildings to meet or exceed New Jersey state code for footcandle levels.  An example of the redesign included installing new T5 fixtures in the gyms to replace old HID and incandescent lamps, which resulted in light levels that were 2 to 3 times greater than they were with the old equipment, with instant on/off capability and less energy consumption.  Over 4,000 new fixtures will be installed when the project is completed.  In addition, occupancy sensors will be installed in appropriate areas to maximize energy savings.  When complete, the project will save the Board of Education over $100,000 per year in energy savings, while also dramatically reducing annual maintenance costs.