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CALMAC®, a provider of energy storage systems, introduced its ice-based energy storage tanks to Sarasota County School District’s Oak Park School, located in South Florida. The district has been benefitted from CALMAC’s service for more than 20 years. By 2014, the district is able to store a total of 20MW of energy among 36 schools.
In 2013 alone, CALMAC’s ice storage technology helped achieve over US$2 million in energy cost savings for the Sarasota County School District. At the beginning of 2014, Oak Park School joined in the array and installed the IceBank energy storage tanks. The device stores energy in the form of ice at night when utility prices are low and cooling can be generated and stored more efficiently. The ice is then used the next day, when temperatures and energy costs are at their highest, to cool students and staff.
CALMAC's IceBank tanks are 99% reusable or recyclable and require minimal maintenance. The durable nature of the IceBank energy storage product provides the district with a sustainable, long-lasting cooling system solution. For example, Sarasota’s Brookside Middle School was the first facility within the district to implement thermal energy storage in the early 1990s. However, in the early 2000s the structure was torn down and replaced with a brand new building. Instead of purchasing new tanks, CALMAC refurbished the previous school’s tanks for insertion into the design of the new facility.
“Any time we remodel a school we are able to save our tanks and reuse them,” said Cecil Peel, Sarasota schools manager of technical services. “The school board has been extremely pleased with the performance of CALMAC's IceBank tanks and so it was logical that we would implement it into Oak Park School. Thermal storage has helped us save 25% of our electrical costs. This money can go towards other sustainability projects and increase the amount of funds available for our students’ education.”
