Louisburg Unified School District 416, located in Louisburg, Kansas, serves approximately 1,700 students across six buildings. The district emphasizes a mission to educate each student in a safe and nurturing environment, with a vision to lead Kansas in student success.
Louisburg ranks among the top 5% of public school districts in Kansas. The district’s graduation rate stands at 95%, reflecting its commitment to academic excellence.
In its second full quarter under a performance-based energy management program, Louisburg USD #416 cut energy costs by 15.4% against a weather-normalized baseline — measured from actual utility bills across all
6 district buildings.
High School • Middle School • Rockville Elementary • Circle Grove Elementary • Broadmoor Elementary • Field House
Louisburg School District
Louisburg USD #416 BAS & Energy Management
Q2 2026 Actual Savings
Savings to Date, 2026
Projected Annual Savings
Why Louisburg Acted
Rising utility costs and aging building-automation schedules were driving the district’s energy spend up — with no easy way to see where the waste was, or fund the fix.
- Energy costs were climbing across electricity, natural gas, and propane at all six buildings, with no performance-based way to fund improvements.
- Building schedules ran long. HVAC systems at several schools were starting up before 6:00 AM and running well past dismissal — hours beyond actual occupied time.
- The board wanted results without capital risk. A performance-based structure meant no upfront cost to the district — the program is funded by the savings it produces.
Of the proposals presented, only one covered the district’s entire six-building portfolio rather than a partial slice —this program.
Annual Energy Spend Baseline
Scope of Work
A 3-year, performance-based Energy Management Services agreement, effectiveDecember 17, 2025, covering all six Louisburg USD #416 buildings.
Systems under management
All six buildings run on a single Automated Logic (WebCTRL) building automation system, over amix of HVAC equipment:
- Central plant
— hot-water boilers and chillers supplying heating and cooling water to the largerbuildings. - Air-handling units with VAV terminals
— variable-air-volume distribution, the primarysystem at the High School and Middle School. - Rooftop packaged units and single-zone units
— serving the elementary schools, the FieldHouse, and smaller zones.
Schedules and setpoints, tightened
The buildings already ran on schedules and setpoints; both were loose. Occupied schedules werepulled in to actual school hours — eliminating the pre-occupancy and after-hours runtime that wasdriving load — and holiday schedules were added where none existed.
Occupied setpoints were tightened and standardized to 69°F heating / 73°F cooling with automaticnight setback — closing the wide, inconsistent deadbands the audit found across the district.
Control Improvements
Beyond schedules and setpoints, the control sequences that decide how equipment responds were rewritten — labor and controls only, no capital equipment.
Control sequences optimized
- Supply-air-temperature (SAT) reset
— supply-air setpoints now reset with load and outdoor conditions instead of holding a fixed value, so air handlers stop overcooling air that then has to be reheated. - Economizer control
— outside-air economizers corrected to draw free cooling when outdoor conditions allow and stay closed when they don’t. - Demand-controlled ventilation (DCV)
— outside air is now brought in against measured CO₂ and occupancy rather than full ventilation to empty rooms, cutting the load of heating and cooling excess outdoor air. - Equipment run and rotation
— staging and lead/lag rotation tightened so only the equipment the load calls for runs, and runtime is shared evenly. - Demand limiting
— a kW-limiting sequence already resident in the automation system, but left inactive, was commissioned to hold peak electrical demand below a target — directly reducing the demand charges that drive the electric bill.
Ongoing verification
Performance is reviewed with district staff monthly, with a formal quarterly review. Every dollar reported is measured from actual utility bills and weather-normalized against heating and cooling degree-days at a 60°F balance point — not estimated.
Where the savings come from
Each meter’s actual usage is measured against its pre-program, weather-normalized baseline and priced at current rates. Gas and propane post the highest percentage savings — schedule and setpoint changes cut heating runtime directly. Electricity returns the largest dollar savings, driven by reduced runtime and demand limiting on the district’s biggest load.
Results So Far
Q2 2026 (April–June), measured against a weather-normalized baseline built from the district’s own pre-program utility bills.
Program to Date Savings
Measured from actual utility bills. Weather-normalized. Verified every quarter.
Every figure is actual utility usage against a weather-normalized baseline from the district’s own pre-program bills, priced at current rates — no estimates, no modeling shortcuts.
1 — In-scope = the six EMS-program buildings only (electric, gas, propane), calendar-year 2025 baseline. Excludes the MaintenanceBuilding, water/sewer/stormwater accounts, and the High School Ballfields meter.
2 — Savings = (weather-normalized baseline usage − actual usage) × current utility rate, per meter per month, summed for Q2 2026(April–June). Baseline year: calendar 2025.
3 — Projected savings per the original program model; actual measured from Q2 2026 utility bills as above.
