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District earns $20K
in energy savings last year
BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent
BRICK – It is easy being green. Just ask
students at six Brick Township schools who helped rack up more than $20,000
in energy savings last year to prove it.
The Green Schools program, launched in half of the
district’s schools in October 2004, is a nationwide initiative aimed at
helping schools find ways to lower their energy costs. Any savings incurred
is returned to the schools to reinvest in the program or in other
educational programs.
“What makes this program unique is the unusual
collaboration between teachers, school administrators, custodians and
students,” said Jeff Brown, executive director of Brielle-based Global
Learning Inc., the organization that helped implement the district’s
program.
The Brick Community Primary Learning Center,
Herbertsville Elementary School, Veterans Memorial Elementary School, Lake
Riviera Middle School, Veterans Memorial Middle School and Brick Township
High School participated in the program during the 2004-05 school year.
Combined, the six schools saved 152,815 kilowatt hours
of electrical energy and prevented 215,718 pounds of carbon dioxide gases
from being released into the atmosphere last year. Those figures translate
into $20,101 in savings.
The schools received 100 percent of their savings to
reinvest this year. For each subsequent year the schools are involved in the
program, a 50 percent return of the schools’ savings is awarded.
The savings exacted by the green schools team at the
Primary Learning Center was $6,892; Hervertsville, $808; Veterans Memorial
Elementary School, $792; Lake Riviera Middle School, $2,886; Veterans
Memorial Middle School, $3,829; and at Brick Township High School, $4,894.
Brown, along with the members of the Green Schools
teams at the six participating schools, were honored with certificates for
their efforts by the Board of Education on Dec. 15.
When the program kicked off, each participating school
was given its energy baseline – an average of its energy use for the last
two years. Each team’s job was to find ways to cut down on its school’s
consumption.
Science and math lessons were geared to teaching
students about energy and the links to energy efficiency, finances and the
environment. The program affected other subject areas, including art and
reading.
“I think people appreciate the link between academics
and the hands-on stuff,” Brown said. “It’s also the opportunity to work as a
team and to involve custodians in professional development and working with
the kids.”
Students at the Primary Learning Center made posters
about energy conservation in the home and they focused on recycling. The
team also turned off the lights in vending machines, the gym, hallways and
the teachers’ room when not in use. Thermostats and air conditioning were
set to conserve energy, and the school’s outside lights were set on a timer.
“Our theme was ‘Love the Earth,’” said Valerie Butler,
a kindergarten teacher at the Primary Learning Center. “It’s extremely
important to teach at a young age that we have to keep our planet clean and
conserve our resources.”
Herbertsville Elementary School students made draft
meters and notified the maintenance staff who installed weather stripping
when a draft was found.
Colorful light-switch-plate reminders, conservation
posters and energy patrols were some of the ways students at Veterans
Memorial Elementary School worked to save energy.
Middle school students at Lake Riviera calculated the
cost of energy upgrades for the building, were taught lessons about
greenhouse gases, and wrote and aired conservation commercials. At Veterans
Memorial, students broadcast energy tips of the week as a slide show on the
school’s television show and performed the “Energy Play.”
Students at Brick Township High School used light
meters, electrical meters and thermometers to collect a large amount of data
about the school’s energy use. They discovered the district spends about
$12,000 a year on school lighting alone. A color-coded energy map also
identified problem areas in the school, such as rooms with excessive heat,
no thermostats and open windows.
“I think it’s important to remind students, and also
the faculty, to shut off lights and computer monitors,” said assistant
principal William Kennedy. “I find myself here at 4:30 or 5 [in the
afternoon] going around and turning off lights.”
Though the program isn’t expected to kick off this year
until February, Brown said he hopes the schools are still practicing the
conservation tips they picked up last year.
“I hope this year every school in the district will
participate,” Brown said.
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