2025 Mass Save Climate Leader

About Fitchburg Public Schools

Fitchburg Public Schools serves the community through seven schools - spanning elementary, middle and high school levels - along with a dedicated early learning center. The mission of Fitchburg Public Schools is to provide coordinated curricular and extracurricular experiences that inspire students to develop the academic, intellectual, creative, technological, and social skills necessary to work and to participate in our democratic society.

Why They Are a 2025 Climate Leader

The grand opening of the new 116,000 square foot Crocker Elementary School facility took place in early September 2025. Energy efficiency played a critical role in the upgrade. The new school is expected to save 175,000 kWh of electricity and 8,200 therms of natural gas annually. Contributing features include LED lighting and controls, enhanced insulation, high-efficiency windows, demand-control ventilation, kitchen hood controls, and variable refrigerant flow heat pumps for heating and cooling.

Two projects that are ongoing for the school system are a lighting upgrade at Longsjo Middle School and a full HVAC upgrade at South Street School.

Longsjo Middle School is receiving LED lighting across multiple floors of the facility that will feature controls allowing for dimming and occupancy control. The 800 fixtures will save 146,000 kWh yearly while reducing building demand by 46.1 kW. This project is expected to finish in 2026.

The South Street Early Learning Center HVAC upgrade includes the removal of oil-fired heating systems and installation of heat pump heating and cooling systems that will integrate into the school’s existing natural gas-fired boiler. The upgrade will save 12,100 gallons of oil and 30,000 therms of gas yearly. The ongoing project is likely to be complete in early Fall 2025.

Lastly, a proposal is in the works for Reingold Elementary School’s HVAC system to be upgraded similarly to South Street Early Learning Center. This project is still in the early stages and could start as early as 2026.