DC PACE

IDEA Public Charter School

DC Public Charter School Property Type

$750,000 Approved PACE Financing

20 Years Term

Eagle Bank Lender

The Challenge

IDEA is a small high school with a current enrollment of about 281 students pursuing college, trade careers, or military service upon graduation. In partnership with the DC Students Construction Trades Foundation, IDEA offers hands-on vocational and architectural design training emphasizing green careers. IDEA’s enrollment has been growing (the school reported a 29% increase in 2016), and the school needed to renovate the oldest part of its campus – the historic Deanwood building. The project is part of a larger rehab of the building, including upgrades that would allow a currently vacant floor to be used again.

The Solution

The church worked with Eagle Bank and the DC PACE program to finance most of the energy related costs of the project, including replacement of PTAC units and boiler/chiller system with a high efficiency VRV, LED lighting upgrades, and envelope improvements. Lifetime utility bill savings, reduced O&M expenses, and avoided capital costs are estimated to total over $1.4 million, with estimated annual electric savings of 30,939 kWh and natural gas savings of 13,127 therms. Annual energy savings will result reduce emissions by about 91 metric tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of taking 19 cars off the road each year.