Johnston County Public Schools

With a growing student population and aging infrastructure, Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) faced the challenge of improving energy efficiency and enhancing comfort levels across five of its schools in Smithfield, North Carolina. JCPS is located in one of the nation’s fastest growing counties and is the seventh largest school district in the state.

The district sought to modernize its HVAC systems to help promote healthier learning environments while taking advantage of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds, a set of stimulus funds granted by the U.S. government to support schools with pandemic learning loss, by re-opening and maintaining the health and safety of America’s schools.

The district’s primary objectives were to:

• Replace outdated equipment with more efficient and reliable equipment.
• Improve energy efficiency to reduce operational costs. 
• Enhance comfort for students and staff.

Project Solution

Carrier engineers assessed the five schools, collaborating with the district to develop a comprehensive plan to leverage the ESSER funds to replace a dozen chillers. The school district selected Carrier’s AquaSnap® 30RB, an air-cooled liquid chiller offering an effective all-in-one package that is easy to install and maintain. The new equipment replaced chillers that were between 20 to 25 years old.

School officials appreciated that Carrier’s AquaSnap Greenspeed® intelligence technology provides best-in-class part-load efficiency with quiet part-load operation. The school district needed the reliability of the aluminum fin copper tube condenser coils and the simplicity of the scroll compressor technology to handle compressor repairs in-house. Due to older piping infrastructure in many of the schools, they preferred the shell and tube evaporator as it is less susceptible to fouling and clogging up from dirty piping systems.