MIFFLINBURG -- Mifflinburg school officials are investing up to $3 million to make two of the district's older schools more energy efficient with a series of major upgrades, a move they hope will save $90,000 each year on energy and maintenance costs.

The proposal, which was unanimously approved Tuesday night by school board, calls for replacing the hot water system at the middle school and several upgrades at the Mifflinburg Elementary School, including a new water-cooled chiller system.

"This is not just for energy savings," Superintendent Barry Tomasetti said. "We have a lot of obsolete equipment being renovated."

Thomas Caruso, the district's business administrator, reiterated Tomasetti's assessment.

"It's not just spending money to save money," he said. "It's spending money on a major upgrade."

The upgrade also includes a lighting retrofit project across the district with the exception of the high school, according to Weston Ernst, of TAC, an energy solutions company in Harrisburg hired by the school district eight months ago to improve the district's energy use efficiency.

Ernst said the overall plan will be done in phases with the first hopefully launched soon, so the cooling system at the elementary school can be in place for the start of the next school year when air conditioning is needed. The elementary school can expect to have savings of $65,000 to $75,000 in annual energy costs and about $25,000 in annual maintenance service with the upgrades, he added.

"Among the benefits of the new lighting and air system is giving students a better quality working environment," said Ernst, adding that TAC has done about 400 performance contracts across the country with most involving school districts. "With the project, we're preventing future failure and reducing deferred maintenance costs, as well as improving the energy efficiency of the buildings."

According to the plan, the Mifflinburg Elementary School will receive the most upgrades. They include:

n Install direct digital controls on existing equipment, replace any control valves used in hot water and chilled water systems and replace 55 variable air volume boxes.

n Remove the two existing chillers and one cooling tower and replace them with one new water-cooled chiller, an associated cooling tower and two chilled water pumps.

n Install a summer domestic hot water system.

Ernst estimated in October, when he made the initial proposal, that it would cost up to $18 million to bring all of the district buildings up to peak energy efficiency.

The district will fund the project's first phase through a 15-year tax-exempt loan through M&T Bank, which also was approved Tuesday.

n E-mail comments to jnorth@dailyitem.com.