Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children (CSAAC) Finds Savings with Solar

CSAAC (Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children) is a nationally recognized pioneer in providing services to individuals with autism.  Autism is a serious developmental disorder that can affect social relationships, communication, judgement, reasoning, and behavior. Individuals with autism often need lifetime supports.

CSAAC is a private, non-profit agency founded in 1979 to provide those supports. CSAAC provides person-centered, community-based services; specialized to meet the support needs of children and adults with autism. Services are designed and implemented through the combined efforts of a highly specialized team of professionals, managers, and direct support personnel. CSAAC maintains a broad array of community partners to promote enriched lifestyles for the individuals that we serve educationally, vocationally, and residentially.

CSAAC manages 3 commercial campuses and 76 residential group homes based in Montgomery County, MD.

Their goal is to be sustainable and energy efficient, resulting in very low use of electric and gas and to decrease its overhead costs through solar energy. Solar will help ensure CSAAC is ahead of the curve to save a significant amount of money that can be used throughout CSAAC in other program areas while maintaining sustainability.

Current Solar Projects:

Jane Salzano ground mount solar system

The Jane Salzano Center for Autism Ground Mount Solar System

• 496.8 kW, 1440 panel system
• Environmental benefits: 468 Tons of CO2 offset annually, equivalent to 10,891 trees
• Solar provides 100% of electricity for the 37,000 square foot building and also provides electricity for 10 residential group homes
• System went live August 2021 with a total time to completion of 2 years

Community School of Maryland Brookeville Campus Main Building

• 42 kW, 107 panel system
• 1 tons of CO2 offset annually, equivalent to 815 trees
• Solar provides 60% of electricity for the building
• System went live March 2019 with a total completion time of 9 months

CSAAC’s current two solar projects provide annual cost savings of $85,624.

Community School of Maryland Roof System

Future Projects in the Works:

The Jane Salzano Center for Autism Roof Mount

• 357 kW, 744 panel system
• Will offset 311 tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to 7,244 trees
• The added roof mount system will offset electricity use of 35 residential homes in Montgomery County
• System is estimated to go live in Q4, 2023
  

  Future solar at Community School of Maryland

Community School of Maryland Brookeville Campus 3 smaller buildings

• 155 kW, 275 panel system
• Will offset 67 tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to 1,559 trees
• The system will offset 75% of of these buildings’ electricity use
• System is estimated to go live spring 2023

Wightman Campus

• 175 kW, 346 panel system
• Will offset 107 tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to 2,502 trees
• The system will offset 75% of of the building’s electricity use
• System is estimated to go live summer 2023

Craig Pardini, Director of Infrastructure Ops

Craig Pardini, CSAAC’s Director of Infrastructure Operations developed the idea of moving CSAAC to solar energy and CSAAC’s Executive Director Eric Salzano and the CSAAC Board of Directors fully supported the idea. Eric and Craig worked together interviewing several different solar companies and creating the implementation plan.

CSAAC worked with Paradise Energy Solutions to execute the projects.

With CSAAC’s current solar systems and the three systems in the works, most of CSAAC’s locations will be powered by offset by the energy from the sun.

By 2025, CSAAC has an initiative to have an all-electric vehicle fleet that consists of 70+ vehicles that will be charged by the sun through the solar panels at the buildings.