Montville — A long-term effort to improve Montville High School’s energy use could have big payoffs.

The school district’s maintenance staff has been working for more than a year to bring "futuristic" LED lights, heating and cooling systems and air control that adjust themselves depending on the time of day and the temperature to the school.

District Facilities Director Steve Carroll has incorporated the cost of replacing the school’s light bulbs and HVAC equipment into the annual maintenance budget, and Eversource has contributed funds for testing and installation of the new technologies at the high school.

By early next school year, Carroll said the school’s heating, cooling, and lighting systems will be regulated by sensors that can tell how full the building is, what the temperature is outside and the air quality is inside.

The changes have already reduced the school’s energy consumption by about 30 percent, he said, and will likely mean about a $55,000 annual savings in the school’s energy bill.

Enoch Lenge, an Eversource spokesman, said in a news release that 28 motors powering the heating, air conditioning and air quality systems will now adjust their speed and output based on environmental factors.

As students move through the building, the systems will react by changing the amount and temperature of air coming into the school.

“The building is actually aware how it’s populated right now,” Carroll said.

Carroll said the district is also hiring a contractor to replace all the school’s lighting fixtures with LED lights that will automatically adjust when outside light changes or when there’s movement in the room.

Work on upgrading the HVAC and lighting systems will continue throughout the summer, Carroll said.

"I think the biggest challenge is to be efficient, yet to have people be unaware that you're being efficient," he said.

This month, the building received a high score on its Energy Star certification from the Environmental Protection Agency, and Carroll said the district is planning to make similar upgrades to Tyl Middle School and the district’s elementary schools.

Carroll said the changes will help drive down the expense of installing solar panels on the high school because the high school building will require less power.

Carroll said he plans to start work on an initiative to bring solar panels to the school next year, and the already lower energy needs will add to the cost-savings from the panels.

“We’re trying to push the efficiency to a point that … when we get solar panels, we’ve got the best of both worlds,” he said.

“It has the potential to be great,” Board of Education chairman Bob Mitchell said Monday, adding that the efficient heating and lighting will help keep the school’s spending on those things down.

“The price of electricity doesn’t go down,” he said.

m.shanahan@theday.com