Green Sexy

Saving Energy in Schools

Today the lights went out in the hallways in my school at 11 a.m.  Students and teachers alike peered into the hallways, wondering what malfunction had occurred.  Students everywhere buzzed about the possibility of school being let out early due to a power failure.  However, once I checked my email, I learned that the hall lights were turned off from 11-12 a.m. in an effort to save energy costs.  This decree was handed down from one of the powers that be in Albany.  Oddly enough, a follow-up email from my administrator made it seem like this would be an isolated event.  So, what would be the actual savings if they made this a daiy event in all school districts in New York state?  It's hard to tell, but let's take a look at some Minnesota schools to see what they're doing to save on their energy costs.

In some Minnesota school districts, students, teachers, administrators and custodians have taken the initiative to turn off lights in rooms that are empty, turn off computers when they're not in use, and to turn their thermostats down to 68 degrees in an effort to save energy and money.  According to the Southwestern Review News, "The costs of lighting, heating and cooling schools are so vast in school districts that the cost of energy is second only to staff salaries, and exceeds the cost of supplies and books." 

Many Minnesota schools have implimented the SEE Program (Schools for Efficient Energy), which focuses "on low and no-cost energy efficient strategies, the districts enrolled in this program strive to reduce their energy use by 10 percent and achieve 'Energy Star' status. The 'Energy Star' award program is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. District 197 received 'Energy Star' status in 2004; it was the first to receive this award in Minnesota and the 10th in the nation."

By following the guidelines of the SEE program, "the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan district has saved $330,000 in energy costs. This past spring, the district saved $34,000 in a single quarter, of which $10,000 came just from Heritage Elementary."  Sounds like a pretty bright idea.

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!    

Green Workplace Survey

USA Today does these little graphs thingies at the bottom left corner of some of their sections, and today's graph was a pie chart about "Green workplace value".  Basically, the poll surveyed 2,774 college students, asking them "If you had two job offers and one company was 'green', would that have an impact on your decision?"  79% of students responded "Yes", while 21% responded "No". 

Now, this is kind of a vague question with a lot of variables to consider, but this highlights for me just how much environmental consciuosness consciousness has permeated the younger generation...Generation XYZ?  Anyway, everyone seems to be thinking more green than they used to.  Seems that companies could potentially benefit by going green because they will attract more environmentally-conscious prospective employees who would help save the company money by doing simple things such as shutting down computers, turning off lights, recycling paper, etc.

Well, hopefully polls like this will encourage workplaces to go green.

Does Your Workplace NOT recycle?

I work in a public high school that does not recycle paper.  Think about it, we're a school---how many hundreds of pounds of paper are wasted every day in the copy room?  How about in the classroom?   

I see my coworkers take piles of paper and chuck them right into the garbage can.  I often times pick through the garbage and salvage some paper that has only been copied on one side.  I recently saved a stack of midterm exams that a coworker was going to throw away because she mistakenly copied some pages upside down on the back side.  Folks, these midterms were at least 10 pages long each, and when I brought it home, my wife went through and salvaged a whole pile of paper that we could still use to print on one side!   What a waste! 

Students in my school revel in the chance to ball up their papers and shoot "baskets" at the garbage can.  When I hand back papers, they summarily glance at the grade, peel off the sticker (if they received over 80% on that assignment) and throw the paper into the garbage.  I constantly admonish the kids to recycle their papers in the recycling box that I have in my room.

Oh, yes---I have a box that I put papers into in my classroom.   Then when full, I take this box home with me and I recycle it at my curbside.  It doesn't take too much effort and I get some exercise by lugging the 30 plus pounds of paper out to my car.   

Now, I and two other teachers at separate times have tried in earnest to get a recycling company to help us with our dilemma, but for some odd reason, recycling companies won't touch our Orleans County school with a ten-foot pole!  Our own Orleans County recycling companies won't recycle papers for schools!  Some Orleans County schools recycle paper with the aid of companies based in Buffalo, NY (Erie County), which is quite the trek---they won't come out as far as us.  Monroe County, which is the neighboring county, won't service our school, even though we are literally right on the cusp of Monroe County, because we are not in their service area.  But you know what we really need at our school?  A supportive administration that is willing to allot some funds for us to make it economically feasible for recycling companies to help us recycle our paper.  Until that happens, we're still going to be "wasting away"!

There is a culture of waste in many workplaces.  This mentality spreads to other facets of the employees' lives.  The workplace should be a model for responsible behavior and recycling paper is one way to teach employees that we can be mindful of our environment in all areas of our life. 

If you have any workplace horror stories or success stories or suggestions, PLEASE pass them my way!  If you comment on this post, you'll be in the running for this cute desk mini recycling bin that reads: "Don't Trash Our Future.  Recycle" with some surprise goodies inside! Don't you just love surprises?!  I will draw names out of a hat on February 29th, 2008.  Good luck and happy writing!