HADLEY — Three options for improving the heating and cooling system at Hopkins Academy, each of which would cost the town at least $6 million, will not be considered by voters until annual Town Meeting next spring.
At a joint meeting with the Finance Committee, the Capital Planning Committee voted in late September not to place the project on the warrant for a special Town Meeting scheduled for Oct. 22.
Instead, members agreed to defer a decision so town and school officials have more time to determine the most cost-effective option.
School Superintendent Anne McKenzie said the current preferred plan appears to be a $6 million project that would upgrade the existing fossil fuel system through a steam-to-hot-water conversion. This would allow the school to get off steam and to also replace the unit ventilators that provide fresh air to classrooms.
Under this plan, though, the existing steam boiler would continue to be used for several more years.
The other options under consideration include air-source heat pumps, also at a cost of $6 million, whose installation would not effect the steam distribution system or steam boilers. Ground-source heat pumps, or geothermal wells, would require repiping the entire building and necessitate the installation of a new boiler system, at a cost to the town of $7.2 million after various state reimbursements.
There were uncertainties about what would be the best fit for the school, as well as the accuracy of the upfront and long-term costs, especially if parts of the system would need to be replaced again in a decade or so.
At an earlier joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee, McKenzie explained that the three options surfaced from work with Colliers, an engineering and design firm, that determined in an assessment that a new Hopkins Academy building would be far more expensive to construct than renovating what already exists.
In that report, Colliers found that the existing HVAC system is the highest priority, since some of its components were installed when the building was built in 1954. That has meant an increase in the cost of repairs in recent years, rising from about $12,000 four years ago to $44,000 last year.
Mass Save then did a deep energy retrofit for the school, putting together a report with various energy conservation measures, McKenzie said. An investment-grade audit performed by energy services contractor Trane provided more information about what work is absolutely necessary and what could be put off, such as whether the distribution system could be upgraded but not the boilers.
Morgan Perras and Atul Gupta, representatives for Trane, explained the options to town and school officials.
Gupta said the ground-source heat pumps would mean taking out the steam system and existing unit ventilators, while the air-source heat pumps would continue to use some steam, though a limited amount.
Only changing over the steam to hot water would mean keeping intact the existing pipes that could be used for future cooling.
Perras said the steam boiler installed in 2009 has a little life left, even as the distribution system, providing steam to all classrooms and gym corridors, is aging rapidly.
“You have a very old steam distribution system that’s over 60 years old, original to the building,” Perras said. “It’s leaking, it’s outdated, and that means it’s really difficult to repair.”
“Even if the boiler is rather new, that distribution system is older,” Perras added.
Perras said phasing the project would be a challenge.
McKenzie said funding available through the Massachusetts School Building Authority could help with a future heat pump conversion, though the steam system would have to go away for the school to be eligible.
Select Board member David J. Fill II said at the Capital Planning Committee meeting the town would have to do something, though officials need to make sure that they can answer all the questions that residents will have if they are being asked to spend millions of dollars.
“We have to start going down the path of improving and modernizing,” Fill said.
