Schools that "Go Green" save "Green"

Schools all over the nation are doing little things that are saving their districts a lot of money. 

 15 schools in District 91, Idaho Falls, Idaho received the Energy Star Label for increasing their energy-efficency by changing their habits.  How'd they do it?  Not by making any sweeping changes that required a lot of time and money---rather, they made simple changes in their behavior by being more mindful of their energy use.  For example, the district has saved more than $40,000 dollars a month by making sure that lights were switched off in rooms that were unoccupied.   Think of all the empty rooms with lights on in a typical school that you pass while walking down the hall---how many light fixtures are there in a typical classroom?  How many bulbs are in each fixture?  How old are those light fixtures?  How much energy per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are these bulbs burning?  How much is the school being charged per kWh by their electric-provider during these peak-hours when school is in session and the grid is most taxed?  How much money could be saved if teachers simply hit the off switch when they left the lavatory or their classrooms?

Another conscious effort made in these schools was to shut down computers when they were not in use.  The district saved over a million dollars in energy costs!  The U.S. Department of Energy recommends that you should consider turning off your computer's monitor if you don't plan to use it for more than 20 minutes and to consider turning off your computer altogether if you're not going to use your PC for more than 2 hours.  In the warmer months, shutting down computers helps to save on cooling costs because of the extra heat that computers produce.  Thankfully, most district's computers are set to power down to a "sleep mode", in which a computer consumes "15 Watts or less power, which is around 70% less electricity than a computer without power management features."  This feature saves much money in energy costs, but the computer is still on, and it still is consuming energy, so if nobody is using it, then why is it on at all?

So, in this time of economic hardship, isn't it amazing how making a simple conscious change in our daily habits can help save money for our schools, and potentially even help save enough money to save someone's job?   If you have any green-energy tips, please feel free to pass them along.  Hey, every little bit can add up to a whole lot!    

Comments

[Green-E]

As a former teacher, I can tell you another small way to save money is for adminstrators to stop giving teachers hand-outs. In preparation for a meeting, send the document ahead of time...this also helps prevent the waste of time in many meetings, when administrators read a handout! Also, instead of putting flyers in teachers' mailboxes (I always hated receiving those) put them in places where teachers frequently stand and wait (think over the copy and coffee machines).

[Steven]

One saving grace of technology is email. Boy, oh boy, has email saved reams and reams of paper! It still doesn't keep administrators from pontificating on every insignificant detail, but at least you can just hit the delete button with no impact on the environment!