AUBURN – The city’s new $10.4 million elementary school is more than just good-looking.

“It’s a smart school,” said Denis Bergeron of Efficiency Maine.

Because of the way it was designed and built, the new school on Park Avenue is extra energy-efficient. It will use 30 percent less energy than other new buildings built to Maine’s energy code, Bergeron said.

As a reward for that, the school department is receiving a $100,000 grant from the Maine Public Utilities Commission, Bergeron said. The grant won’t be extra money. Because the grant was expected it was built into the budget, said Auburn School Department Business Manager Jude Cyr.

PUC and school officials took a final tour of the school Friday to ensure that energy saving technology in the building design is actually in the school. The team looked over sensors that saved everything from hot water to electricity to oil from the school’s basement to the roof. The total cost of the energy technology cost $177,000, Bergeron said.

The new school will save a projected $14,539 a year in energy costs: $10,398 in electricity savings and $4,141 in fuel oil savings, according to the Public Utilities Commission.

Energy costs are a big cost of schools. “In schools energy is the second largest line item after salaries,” said Nichole Clegg of the PUC. In Auburn, school energy makes up 28 percent of the budget, Cyr said.

Nationally schools spend more than $6 billion a year on energy. Of that, 25 percent could be saved by building more efficient schools, according to the Department of Energy.

The new school saves energy in several ways, Bergeron said.

• It’s highly efficient lights puts out more light per lamp, so fewer lamps are needed to light rooms. Plus the building was designed to take advantage of natural light which again reduces the need for electricity.

• Hanging light shelves bounce light toward the ceiling which lights up the whole room, “which makes for a good visual environment,” Bergeron said. Without the shelves “you’d have glare,” which often would call for shades. Sensors automatically brighten or dim lights according to the need. There are also motion sensors that turn lights off “so lights won’t ever be left on,” said Larry Bartlett of Bartlett Design.

• Larger buildings have ventilators to bring fresh air in, which must be heated or cooled depending on the season. Typically the fans run automatically. The Auburn school has sensors that detect when fresh air needs to be brought in to avoid fans from running when not necessary. That saves in two ways, Bergeron said. The fans have to run less, and less air needs to be cooled or heated.

• There’s extra insulation in the room and under floors, plus high-performance windows. The windows have film in them that prevent too much heat from getting into the building.

School Principal Vickie Gaylord said she’s noticed “a more consistent environment” in temperatures and light compared to other buildings.

“We don’t seem to have it hot, then cold,” she said. “And the lights are wonderful. You can manually turn them on and off, but teachers are choosing to leave them on automatic. You can definitely see the lighting is adjusting to what’s coming in.”

The technology helps make the school a good place for learning, Gaylord said. “Children are having optimal lighting and temperature.”

PUC gets money to give grants to highly efficient schools from electric ratepayers, Bergeron said. The average ratepayer pays about $9 a year in surcharges for the grants, he said.