Cooler classrooms not just about installing AC
Clay Asato is president of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii, a professional trade association with more than 575 member companies.
Quotes from elected officials and a recent Star-Advertiser editorial have expressed surprise and even anger at the prices of the bids received by the state Department of Education to undertake heat-abatement work at schools across the state.
Many of the statements made in articles and comments refer to contractors overcharging for air conditioning installations, perhaps in the mistaken belief that the work primarily involves simply retrofitting schools with cooling appliances.
In fact, the bids reflect the requirements of two bills enacted this session: Senate Bill 3126, enacted as Act 47 (2016), and House Bill 2569, enacted as Act 176 (2016).
These measures call for much more than adding air conditioning to schools. They also require modifications to school facilities to accommodate a range of energy efficiency features and the use of renewable energy to move public schools toward netzero energy use (i.e., a school’s energy needs must be completely satisfied by renewable power sources).
Because the majority of Hawaii’s schools are more than 50 years old and their construction and electrical systems reflect a different time, retrofitting them with modern features and systems, which they weren’t designed to support, often requires electrical and construction upgrades.
Older school buildings also were not designed to be airtight and relied on natural ventilation for cooling. Because of climate change, tradewinds are decreasing and average ocean and air temperatures are higher, making air conditioning and other heat-abatement measures necessary to ensure school environments suitable for teaching and learning.
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And when it comes to ensuring new air conditioning systems function effectively, the building envelope needs to be sealed, which requires replacing windows and doors, and installing insulation.
Add to this the requirements that renewable energy systems must also be installed to reduce the electricity costs at our schools, and it’s clear the scope of work involved in addressing the requirements of the recently passed legislation goes far beyond the purchase and installation of air conditioning units.
For instance, the plans for some projects necessitated more than 350 pages of specifications and drawings, which in a typical school could include the installation of a hybrid AC system, electrical upgrades, PV (photovoltaic) systems with inverters, battery backup for the PV system, along with HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) insulation and roofing, ceiling fans, painting, window replacement, structural reinforcement, sunshades and awnings.
Also required are site preparation, cast-in -place concrete, aluminum fabrications, finish carpentry, thermal and moisture protection, liquid applied roofing system, mechanical and electrical upgrades, landscaping and other improvements.
Because of the scope and diversity of project components, a number of building trades — including electrical, air conditioning, roofing, solar and other contractors — are involved, which requires project management and oversight by a general contractor, who also takes all the risks associated with the subcontractors’ work.
The DOE wisely pre-qualified the general contractors who could bid on this work to ensure the companies supervising projects at our schools had satisfactory safety records and experience working in occupied buildings, such as schools where student and staff activities are taking place.
It is important to appreciate that the DOE, while doing its best to expedite these projects, was not rushing to install air conditioning units before the next school year but is undertaking long-term improvements that will not only provide more comfortable classrooms for students and teachers, but also curtail the cost of electricity over the long term, significantly reduce the DOE’s carbon footprint, and move Hawaii closer to its goal of 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2045.
These goals are worthwhile and visionary, but cannot be achieved without the significant investment the Legislature has required the DOE to make.
Hawaii’s general contractors are proud to be part of this effort but must follow the bid specifications set forth by the DOE in submitting responsible bids that ensure all work is done to high standards the members of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii are committed to uphold.
63 responses to “Cooler classrooms not just about installing AC”
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Are you fricken’ kidding me? Just install ac, period.
The shibai of your post perfectly matches your blogging name. You haven’t got a clue.
Contractors didn’t have a clue. They not only did not read through specifications, but they over-designed the projects for what they THOUGHT was required. Total waste of time and effort.
Legislators are lawyers. They didn’t do their homework. That’s ok, The DOE is struggling through another sonnd of bidding.
wiliki – Wrong on this just as with rail. Contractors/skilled trades do not do the design work. Contractors are given the designs and then bid on what they think it will cost to construct.
Professional engineers do the design work. This is what they do.
Sad to say you just can’t make the grade.
What we said: Give the kids air conditioning now! What the schools decided to do: We will develop a multi-year, phased major construction project that will, after a decade or two, eventually result in an environmentally responsible solution for our schools, and, if we’re extremely lucky, might also lower classroom temperatures a couple degrees for future students who haven’t been born yet. Oh, and while we’re waiting for that, we’ll just install air conditioners in all the teacher’s lounges and administrative offices.
Cmon peeps, its not that complicated. Plant trees near the windows, awnings, tint windows and coat the roofs white, and ceiling fans. World of difference until we get them HVAC. Then the HECO bill will be less. Wake up!
Lets not not waste good money. Do a good job. Get it right the first time.
wiliki – Gee, why haven’t you said this about rail? Billions over budget, years behind schedule, on and on and on.
He is saying that the planners and designers threw in everything including the kitchen sink in this project. The smarter way is to do a cost analysis of any modifications to the building. For instance, is it feasible and cost effective to install insulation and replace windows compared to energy savings? A lot of times it’s not.
If the contract documents truly had all that work included, why was the government estimate so low? Was it like rail to artificially quote a low project cost to sell the project and then to ask for more money later?
papio5, your points and questions are Akamai and hope this project doesn’t mimics the rail in costs and unacceptable practices! This old timer preference is to consider changing the school year to an acceptable cooler season, late November-May with a longer school day to compensate this shorter school year. It’ll save us from all the adjustments and expenses to install air conditioners! The schools were designed for our tropical climates and the Visionaries of old never considered the change of our climate.
Agreed that the school year should be changed. At a minimum it should go back to the September start date.
Sadly, this initiative is another example of the government doing nothing for a long time, then rushing a solution with the resultant poor planning and cost overruns. If it was a small project, the impact of rushing wouldn’t have been noticed by the public.
@ papio – “If the contract documents truly had all that work included, why was the government estimate so low?”
THAT is the $64,00………(gotta adjust for inflation) $1,000,000 question.
The internet is a neat thing. If you type in “average temperature by month honolulu” you will get a number of graphs that show that September is about the hottest month of the year.
Get rid of spring break, winter break. Do all teachers training in the summer. Don’t start school till October. Problem solved.
Next school Board meeting. I think that the next round of bids will be a waste of money. It seems that the DOE has plenty of time and money if it does a bad job at installing AC and has to fix all the new problems it causes.
wiliki – Not that simple even for your simple mind. Then again, you think rail has professional management, is on time, on budget.
Oh puhleeze, I’m laughing so hard.
papio5 – Truth of the matter is you do not know what you do not know.
With this comment, “is it feasible and cost effective to install insulation and replace windows compared to energy savings?” proves you do not understand the problem.
Without proper insulation, eliminating outside air infiltration, reducing the heat load in the classroom, the aircon unit will either have to run on high the entire time which wastes electricity, burns up the aircon faster.
In other cases a much larger aircon unit would be needed to compensate for all the heat infiltration into the classroom, costing more, using more power.
If outside dust is not eliminated from the classroom, filters will clog, need more cleaning, dust will build up on the insides of the aircon, reducing efficiency.
In words you can understand, you can’t aircon a room with screen windows and doors.
I agree with papio5 and I’ve had the pleasure of doing exactly what he said to my wife’s classroom. Every classroom at my wife’s school has wood jalosies, including those with central ac. My wife’s classroom did not have any ac so we purchased a commercial energy-efficient window unit for $600 and I framed and installed myself about 5 years ago. There conveniently was a 220 outlet near the window. The room stays cold and the ac compressor does not cycle as much as you infer. This year, I swapped out the ac with a new one just to ensure there would be no problems in the future. I love how you and the writer makes a ton of excuses why it’s difficult and costs so much. Split and window ac installation is cheap and simple. I’ve installed them in every room of my rental properties.
Mickels8, nicely said. I was going to give a long explanation but you hit the nail on the head. It comes down to practicality vs unlimited budget/time. Sure in new construction or a major renovation, a lot of features could be included. But we are looking at a short deadline and with constraints on classroom outages and construction noise.
Mickels8 – You and papio5 must be related as you both haven’t got a clue how to efficiently work air.
Sure, you can stick an aircon in a classroom with wooden slats if – the wiring was designed to handle it, if you do not mind all the wind blowing through the closed jalousie windows (Here is a hint. Put a loose plastic wrap on the inside of the window, sealed at all edges. Watch it bulge out as the wind blows. All that bulge is the hot air and dust per window infiltrating the classroom.
I’ll be you and your brother papio5 actually think you can aircon a home with only screen windows and doors. Rookies to the core.
Enough of your shibai aircon knowledge. My stomach hurts from laughing so much. Make it stop and give me a break.
agree…good points. Alas, the Governor mishandled this as did the state government.
Standard for Nei elected bureaucrats.
The Legislature, which required off-the-grid A/C, and the DOE, which put all the bells and whistles in the specs, must bear responsibility for the cost.They were fantasizing if they thought they could make these kinds of extensive modifications cheaply.
BluesBreaker, don’t forget the DOE. They develop the plans and write the specs. Mahalo Clay, all the SA readers needed your comments.
Restart school in October. Let the legislature and the DOE rewrite the laws until they get it right and try again.
Why would the lowest bid be $80,000 and highest at $135,000 per portable room, when they’re viewing the same plans and specs? Heck, with that $135,00, knock the old room down and build a new room with AC.
If you had read and understood what Clay Asato is saying you would not have made the shibai comment.
Newer classrooms are a better fit for aircon, tend to have better wiring, less heat/hot air infiltration, structure in better condition, aircon install could be cheaper.
Older classroom with non sealing jalousie windows, no insulation, decades old structure, etc, would not be up to current code compliance. Aircon install would be expensive.
Look at it this way. Old Nei homes with single wall construction, open beam roof, jalousie windows, all windows exposed to the heat of the sun, would require major upgrades to work aircon, reduce heat infiltration, lower energy usage.
You just can’t plug in window aircon units into an out of date electrical system. Breakers will blow. Wiring will overheat. By law, state is liable for the safety of all keiki. Fail to install aircon to current code and the state is liable.
I understood what he said but the fact of the matter is, why invest $135,000 into an old building by trying to renovate it and install AC? Wouldn’t $135,000 be enough to build a new room with central air? If you’d not able to then you’re blowing bubbles.
Uhhhh, $135k would not even be enough to build a new school classroom up to current codes. Understand all the processes required to design and build a new classroom in the Nei. Can save money if a pre approved design is used but when you add up all the materials, skilled union trades, $135k wouldn’t even be enough.
Thank you for a well written article. While I have concerns about the cost, I realize that it is not as easy as just going to Home Depot and buying an air conditioner like we did for our home. As you mentioned, the schools are a bit old, and to do it right, insulation, electrical upgrades, etc. have to be done. But the main problem is that this is happening after the economy came out of the worst recession since the great depression and now contractors are filling up with work. This automatically means higher prices. Solution would be for the Donald to become the next president which will soon be followed by a major recession which would help to drive prices down. But then the legislature won’t have any money to pay for it.
Boots you’re a clown!! Deep down inside you have this “Thing” for The Donald as you call him. Time to come out of the closet?
I do like the Donald. When I was growing up, I really enjoyed 50th state wrestling. The Donald brings back those days. Have you seen the tape of the Donald promoting a female wrestler? Pretty similar to when he was discussing Lying Ted or other opponents. He is entertaining.
Boots –
What about Roller Derby???
On a serious note: Thanks Clay Asato for the information.
The Donald is a racist pig. The second coming of Hitler himself. Anybody that supports this chump is the same, starting with you Booty. Put on them black boots and do the Heil Hitler you racist.
The one rule that we can’t get around is: If we’re going to do a job, then do it right. The alternative is to do it wrong and end up having to do it all over again. This is why we elect or hire the smartest people we can to make these decisions. “Smart,” however, doesn’t always win out. Public pressure plays a part, and when this pressure is ill-informed, then we make compromises — and in Hawaii, that usually means taking the less-than-smart route. Part of the blame for public ignorance of the issues is the failure of our smart people to communicate and educate their fellow citizens. Let us know what the issues are. Be up front. This op-ed by Clay Asato, a construction expert, offers the first coherent insight into the key issues. We may not like what we hear, but we have to like his candor. Governor Ige is also an engineer, and he, too, understands the issues. But he has to be more open about the real costs associated with a sustainable plan for cooling our schools. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
In a perfect world, things would always be done “right”. For instance, the rails would have gone all the way to UH, be within budget and on time. But reality is that things have to be done smartly and within reason. Money doesn’t grow on trees except in some people’s mind.
Problem is we didn’t “elect or hire the smartest people” and the people we have do not know how to “do it right”. These people also don’t want to “communicate” because they don’t want to show everyone how incompetent they are.
Never believe a contractor. Hard to find an honest one.
How little you know how the real world works. A contractor built the home/condo/apartment where you live. A contractor installed the wiring. A contractor installed the plumbing. A contractor built the foundation. On and on and on.
The fact you made your shibai posts proves you haven’t got a clue what goes into the design and building of a structure. All work to either be done by or supervised by licensed and qualified workers. All work done to applicable codes. State is responsible for the health and welfare of all keiki in the classroom. Failing to work to code would hold the state liable.
Clay Asato i is absolutely correct on all the work to be done to professionally install aircon. Fail, and it will overload the electrical system, blow circuit breakers, could case a building fire.
Sad to say our dysfunctional governor willfully failed to do his due diligence before setting a goal of 1,000 classrooms by end of 2016. Exactly why it will never happen.
let’s see, we have state and local regulations that oversee building contractors and subs…I wonder why??? If folks were honest and did their work…no need for such regs…must be a couple of bad apples…or more…
Then everybody is dishonest, since all professionals, including doctors, CPAs and every licensed profession, which has regulatory oversight. General contractors who bid too high don’t get jobs. If you low ball just to get the work, you’ll lose money. The bid system, with everyone seeing the same specs, is the most honest way to go.
Oh puhleeze with your shibai, people are people. I’m sure you always drive the speed limit, use your turn signals, are the perfect driver. Yeah. Right.
Everyone needs oversight to ensure standards are met. Exactly why so many of our elected bureaucrats have been caught willfully violating the laws.
Deal with the world we have.
BB – Actually Grabby Boy has said from day one he has always been honest, never lied, 100% competent in his job. Rail is on time, on budget.
Really?
Like I said, Its hard to find an honest contractor and if you do keep em. Your reply makes no sense unless your a contractor yourself and the truth hurt your feelings.
Contractors will always bid higher for government jobs. I’m sure if you had a portable room on your property and wanted it to be AC’d, it wouldn’t cost no $80,000 to $135,000.
I do not buy the BS ….Anything put out for procurement/bids MUST have specs and scope of work. So all the bidders were bidding on the same scope and specs. The difference is that some did not want the job and would take the job at a premium price if the procurement office wanted a certain contractor. On the other hand, the low bid was probably the “insider bid” that would possibly be awarded the job and have a lot of “change orders” to up the price just like the rail project.
Can’t just do it right without all of the bells and whistles?
The moral of the story? Increased cost of construction to address building ordinances holds for ANY improvement to ANY public property regardless of occupancy. Case in point; Honolulu Hale and the asbestos.
Mr. Asato is right. Spot on. When I cool and optimize energy use in a building made back in the 60s, for example, it takes time and data gathering to get a plan together. That plan has limits constrained by its design, but the resulting plan often has several aspects to cover. Reflective coatings, led installation, HVAC retrofit/commissioning, window changeouts, and the list goes on. Add a layer of new code versus old, and it gets hugely expensive. But it’s possible over a period of years to migrate a building to much better efficiency. I know our efforts achieved around 45% energy reduction over the last 5 years without dropping livability in a 60s era building. Leap frogging like the DOE wants usually winds up a very big job that wasn’t well thought out. No one can waive a magic wand here no matter how political types want it to be so. It takes prolonged management to get it done right.
The legisture didn’t do its homework. Perhaps the next session should see Them rewriting their legislation.
We are talking about small individual classrooms, not entire buildings. With solar power, there is no need to make it “energy efficient”. The DOE consultants need to be more precise in what is needed and that is simply a “solar powered a/c system with battery backup”.
Have you seen the bid specs? Huge book.
350 pages of specifications for the bids means that this project should best be handled by the power company as was suggested by the governor to the legislature using special funds for dealing with power efficiency for schools.
Sounds just like planning for the Rail System? What you see, is not what you get!
I don’t think that many commenters on these forums have ever actually walked through a real school and looked at the buildings and the infrastructure that supports them. At my last school, we had so-called portables from the 1980s, (by the way, nothing that stays in the same place for 30 years can justifiably be called “portable.”) buildings from the last 25 years of the 20th century, air-conditioned trailer buildings, and one building, centrally air conditioned, from the first decade of the 21st century.
I think the problem with HIDOE was trying to write a one-size-fits-all RFP for schools that differ vastly in their construction and infra-structure. (especially electrical capacity and even things like are the roofs the obsolete flat kind that need almost continual re-roofing) The alternative would have been to write nearly 260 separate RFPs. It’s a huge problem and individual schools were not assessed regarding their specific needs. Ultimately, I’m guessing that each school’s admin will need to deal with individual contractors to get the most effective solutions.
It’s a whole lot easier to sign a bill than it is to actually devise solutions that work.
Probably better for HECO to handle a complex 350 page spec for the RFP.
Have HECO do the survey and planning and sub out the work.
With HECO inspection, less can go wrong than When DOE bean counters try to play engineer.
Uhhhh HECO only does electrical work. They do not have qualified personnel to design HVAC for school classrooms. HECO has enough problems doing their own job.
change the school calendar. Start in September. Pau in June. C’mon HSTA.
An earlier article stated that the DOE had consultants who checked out and made “design plans” for the first group of classrooms that went out for bid. It sounds like these consultants did a poor job. The “design plans” probably had all kinds of general verbage about “energy efficiency” and that allowed the contractors to put all sorts of work in their bids.
To get the work done quickly at a reasonable cost, the “design plans” should be simple and precise – i.e. something like “classroom 1 – install a solar powered 30,000 btu split air system and a 10 cfm outside to inside air fan with a battery backup system.”
There is no need to seal out air infiltration because they need air exchange anyway. With solar power, why be concerned with insulation, new windows, electrical upgrades,and the myriad other work the contractors would do to enhance their profits.
A general would sub out that kind of work or do it himself. Trouble is they’re making too much money putting up buildings in Kakaako.
sounds like the bid riggers drafted requirements above and beyond what is needed for an air conditioned classroom that will use the air conditioner four to five months a year, four to five days a week and for six hours at most.
with that in mind you don’t have overspend on renovations to perfectly seal the classroom for energy/environmental reasons, just rewire the electrical and install commercial a/c units.
even with $10,000 of electrical work for each classroom and $1200 for off-the-shelf in-the-window a/c units the cost per class room would average less than $15,000. drastically lower than bids coming in over $100,000 per classroom.
with the savings you could replace and purchase new a/c units for the next ten years for each classroom and still have more than $68 million dollars left over from the money allotted this year to cool 1000 class rooms.
You make sense.
Now that is interesting. Yes, sales pukes do that. I’ve been handed specs in developing countries that are so outrageous it made me choke on the spot. When I asked where it came from, the government guys answered they were working with certain equipment suppliers to develop the standards. It happened to me recently bidding out replacement generators. EE drawings and specs could only be met with one local supplier and we fired the guy after he got mad when we requested design fitting all units on the market. $60k price difference. And that was local. So yes, possibly a set up.
A more sustainable solution means using existing power to provide AC.
The DOE has a huge electricity bill each month.
I doubt that the DOE wants to upgrade the amount of power it draws from the grid – even if it may have to replace all the 50 year old wiring in the school.