Energy Conservation 101: Get Back to Basics this School Year

It's Labor Day and you can hear the school bells ringing  ̶  welcoming teachers and students back to the classroom. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, energy conservation should also be on the curriculum. Not just the responsibility of the operations team and custodial staff, but everyone can help reduce energy usage and make school facilities energy efficient with a few simple activities. Not only will this effort save school districts money, which can be used for other educational needs, but a comfortable environment improves learning and productivity…after all, who wants to study in a hot building during the summer and cold building in the winter?

The nation’s approximate 17,000 K-12 school districts spend more than $6 billion annually on energy — more than is spent on computers and textbooks combined. More significantly, as much as 30% of a district’s total energy is used inefficiently or unnecessarily. Not surprisingly, the biggest energy users on school campuses are HVAC equipment and lighting, which account for approximately 70%. Coming in third place is energy consumed by computers, appliances, office equipment and other plug-in devices.

To help you get an A+ in energy conservation this school year, here is an energy conservation checklist for teachers and students:

Energy Conservation Checklist:

• Turn off lights when not in use—lighting accounts for nearly 50% of the electric bill in most schools. This also applies to the new energy-efficient fluorescent lights.
• Form a student energy patrol to ensure lights are out when rooms are empty (check classrooms, the cafeteria, the auditorium, etc.).
• Have students make signs and stickers to remind people to turn off lights when they leave a room.
• Bump up the thermostat in the hallways and keep classroom doors closed. Otherwise, the cold air runs down the hall and outside where it is wasted to the outdoors.
• Don’t block the airflow around vents. Keep bookcases and other bulky items away from the heating and cooling units so they don’t block and/or absorb the cold (or warm) air that should be coming into the room.
• Students should turn off monitors that will not be used for the next class period. All computer equipment should be turned off at the end of the day and on weekends (unless your network technicians specifically instruct otherwise).
• Form a student energy patrol to make sure monitors are off when computers are not in use and to turn computers off at the end of the day.
• Have students conduct a survey of the number of appliances in each classroom and encourage teachers to take away unneeded appliances.
• Have students come up with a weekly energy conservation tip to share with the class.

Energy conservation can be educational and fun by getting the entire school involved!  And, energy savings add up when the entire school joins together in conservation efforts.  Schools with effective conservation programs have reported reductions of as much as 25% in utility bills. That is something to cheer about!

Sources: Alliance to Save Energy, Energy Star