School
Energy Management Plan
7 -
Steps to Reduce Energy Waste
School
Energy Management Plan
7 -
Steps to Reduce Energy Waste
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| 1. Review Goal & Establish Objectives |
| 2. Designate Coordinator & Energy Smart Team |
| 3. Establish Checklists & Shutdown Procedures |
| 4. Provide Awareness & Training |
| 5. Perform ECM's & Monitor Progress |
| 6. Use Project Green Machine Curriculum Resources |
| 7. Evaluate Program & Celebrate Success |
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1. Review Goal & Establish
Objectives
Review Strategic Plan and the District Energy Management Plan. Consider what objectives will help meet that goal. The School Board has established a District-wide
goal to reduce energy use 5% per year for the next three years by eliminating
energy waste. This goal is the driver for each school's effort to
manage its energy use. Success is measured by comparing the baseline
(with required adjustments) to the current year energy performance.
Adjustments are made for building additions and major building system renovations.
Success is measured by comparing energy consumption in terms of KWH used in the current year to the baseline year. The graph shown on your school's energy use data gives an indication of whether progress is being made toward the goal. You can access your school's data using the instructions below. From the School District LAN go to: http://distweb01/dept/emg/dat&stat-pag1.html
(then click on your school).
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2.
Designate Coordinator & Energy Smart Team
Select coordinator and team members, present program and goals, and solicit comments and recommendations.
School Energy Coordinator - Identify one person to be the school's energy coordinator. This could be the principal, assistant principal, dean, or a department head. This person would work with the Energy Management Specialist to develop your school's plan and develop resources for its accomplishment. If you decide to implement Project Green Machine, this person could also be the school point of contact for recycling and water conservation. School Energy Smart Team - This team can be comprised of the School Energy Coordinator, the head custodian, the minor maintenance technician, a teacher representative, and a non-instructional staff representative. If you decide to implement Project Green Machine at your school the same team would include students and be identified as the SAVE Team (Students Auditing and Valuing the Environment). The members of the Energy Smart Team serve two important purposes.
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3.
Establish Checklists and Shutdown Procedures
Look through the checklist provided and modify as needed in order to tailor it to your campus situation. You may need to add special areas for checking. You may need to identify by name specific individuals who will be responsible for designated areas. Checklists are a great way to communicate required
actions. Several different types of checklists can be developed.
The ones enclosed in this booklet include standard items that all schools
should be doing and monitoring. However, each school will need to
add items unique to its campus. Shutdown procedures can also be put
in a checklist form. These are actions that should be taken just
prior to weekends and extended school closures (winter, spring, and summer
breaks).
You will need to know how large energy loads (HVAC,
water heater, outside lights, etc.) at your school are controlled.
You may have individual room thermostats or you may have one thermostat
in one room that controls several rooms. In that case the person
in that room should be given guidelines on how to control that thermostat.
Outside lights might work the same way. In some cases a whole bank
of outside lights is control by a switch in one of the classrooms.
Your checklist should be detailed enough to identify these types of situations
and establish who will be in charge of controlling it.
The checklists enclosed with this section can be
a good starting point.
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4. Provide Awareness & Training
Use staff/faculty presentations, student projects, charts, guest speakers. Staff & Faculty Meeting Presentations It is very important to communicate goals and objects
as well as the progress made toward accomplishing them. The principal
or energy coordinator should report at least monthly on the school's progress
in meeting its goal. The Energy Management Specialist is also available
to give brief presentations on activities and energy saving tips.
Energy Use Chart This is a very effective tool for maintaining energy
awareness and reducing energy waste. This large chart should be placed
in a prominent area where most of the teachers and staff can see it.
The chart is designed to be "adopted" by the math curriculum as a way to
reinforce calculating and graphing skills. A teacher sponsor should
be designated whose students can be given the responsibility to read the
electric meter each day (at a specified time) and record the results on
the graph. Monthly results are also posted and compared to a baseline
(provided by the Energy Management Specialist). Two forms are provided
to help manage the data: the Energy Use
Chart and the Data Log and Worksheet.
Student Involvement Project Green Machine provides several service-learning
activities for students that enriches curriculum and provides awareness
to the entire school population. Some of these activities include
energy patrols, switch plate art posters, public service announcements,
information brochures, and SAVE Team activities. Project Green
Machine is covered in more detail later in this booklet. Grants are
available to teachers who would like to use Project Green Machine service-learning
activities in their classrooms.
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5. Perform ECM's & Monitor
Progress
Delegate responsibilities and check progress. Conduct Campus Survey and Audit Energy conservation measures (ECM's) can be identified by conducting a survey of the school. The Energy Coordinator and/or Energy Smart Team can tour the campus and see how major energy loads are controlled. These observations should be placed as an ECM on the checklist. Some ECM's will require "people" action. Some
may be accomplished by minor building modifications, such as, a timer switch
or photocell installation. The more control that can be done automatically,
the less management time will be required for checking.
Schedule Monitoring You will need a systematic way to monitor how well
ECM's are being followed. There are a number of ways to do that:
The
Energy Smart Team should meet on a regular basis (at least monthly).
Work Orders
Submit work orders to the maintenance department
for minor repair and modifications for energy control when appropriate.
Doors and windows that don't close properly can waste a lot of energy.
Air filters need to be kept clean. Lights and air-conditioning that can't
be controlled properly will also waste energy.
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6. Use Project Green Machine Curriculum
Resources
Energy Use Chart, Switch Poster, SAVE Teams, PSA's, Info sheets and brochures. Project Green Machine is a comprehensive environmental resource conservation service-learning initiative that enriches classroom curriculum and allows schools to support the district's environmental compliance requirements. It involves students in resource conservation activities that benefit the school and community as well as their studies. The resource conservation areas include energy, water, and recycling. Each of these areas is addressed in the Florida Sunshine State Standards for Curriculum Frameworks and has a direct impact on district operational costs. Successful implementation of this program will result in monetary savings for the district. The school and other segments of the district also directly benefit from any monetary savings that result from their resource conservation efforts. Grants will be available to teachers who would like to conduct PGM service-learning activities in their classroom.
Energy Use Chart
This activity supports the math curriculum and involves
students on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis depending on the teacher's
interest and schedule. If you can find a math teacher to sponsor
this activity, then you will be able to maintain the chart year round.
Details and related curriculum benchmarks can be found in the Project Green
Machine manual kept by your curriculum coordinator or on this site at Energy
Use Chart.
Switch Poster This activity supports the art curriculum and is
a great way to promote energy awareness where it really counts - at the
light switch.
SAVE Teams An important part of Project Green Machine
is the involvement of students in environmental and resource conservation
activities. These are activities that can be conducted by students
to help monitor and control the consumption of natural resources.
There are three project categories - Energy Auditing, Water Auditing, and
Recycling. These activities are conducted by SAVE Teams, which are
composed of two or more students per team. The teams will organize,
plan, and accomplish actions under the supervision of a teacher sponsor.
Some of their projects can include creating, producing, and presenting
public service announcements and information brochures.
Energy Flash Patrol This activity supports the science curriculum and
is a great service-learning activity for students in elementary schools.
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7. Evaluate Program and Celebrate
Success
Review energy performance and determine the effectiveness of energy conservation measures. Assessment The primary tool for assessment will be the comparison
between current year and baseline year (1998-1999) energy consumption.
The comparison will be calculated as a percent change to coincide with
the strategic plan reduction goal of 7.5%. Since costs can be affected
by external conditions (rate changes), KWH will be used as the key measure.
Adjustments will also be made for major building modifications.
Use your Energy Smart Team to get feedback on which ECM's are working and which are not. Get feedback from teachers as well as non-instructional staff. Take advantage of the Energy Management Specialist's auditing and evaluation resources. Where appropriate Technical Services personnel can be called in to evaluate building systems. Engineering services are also available. Awards and Incentives Project Green Machine contains an awards and incentive
program for PGM designated schools including a shared savings benefit to
the school. Details can be found in the Project Green Machine manual.
It's also important to recognize people throughout the year for the efforts they make to help the school accomplish its goal. |