PIERCE COLLEGE : Air-Conditioning Project Starts

Two-thirds of the classrooms at Pierce College will have air conditioning soon if a pilot energy-conservation and air-conditioning project is successful.

As part of the project, workers have lowered ceilings, installed new lighting fixtures and air-conditioned five classrooms.

“Then, we’ll get input from the students and faculty. We’ll take criticism. We’d hate to do the whole school this way and find out that it’s not right,” said David Bush, building and grounds administrator.

Eventually, 180,000 square feet of classrooms--a third of those on campus--will receive air conditioning, he said. Another third already are air-conditioned.

The remaining structures, including the farm buildings, and automotive technology, welding and carpentry shops, are “not practical to air-condition,” Bush said.

The main air-conditioning project, if approved by the state office of energy assessments and the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees, will consist of two phases.

The first phase will include lowering classroom ceilings and retrofitting the lighting fixtures, which will reduce energy consumption of the lights by 60%, Bush said. The second phase will consist of air-conditioning rooms.

All told, the work will cost about $3 million. The office of energy assessments will loan Pierce the money if it approves both the pilot project and the feasibility study.

Bush said the money could later be paid back mostly through energy savings, rebates from the new lighting fixtures and incentives from Southern California Gas Co.

Lower ceilings will keep the heat from the lights contained in the attic and reduce the area that must be cooled, Bush said.

The cost of lowering the ceiling, retrofitting the lighting fixtures and installing the air conditioner in one classroom is about $4,500.

“But that doesn’t mean that every room will cost that much,” Bush said.