Energy Efficiency--Help Us Spread the Word!

We all know the value of conserving energy and many school districts throughout the state do an excellent job of saving money by implementing energy efficient measures. There was a report published by the Office of the State Comptroller in December, 1996 concerning the audit of the State Education Department's School District Energy Conservation Activities. This report provided information on some of the energy saving approaches that have been used by school districts which have produced a positive impact on costs. Those approaches include the following measures:

- Buying brokered gas (through a wholesale supplier) rather than buying gas from available public utilities.

- Participating in consortiums (such as through BOCES) to purchase natural gas at a reduced rate.

- Combining gas lines for two schools which are located in close proximity to each other, in order to secure a discounted brokered gas rate.

- Installing an energy management system.

- Including the responsibility to conserve energy as a provision in the contract for custodial services.

We are sure that many of you reading this article will recognize that your district used one of the above approaches to successfully achieve reductions in energy costs. You may also be aware of additional energy efficient measures that have proven to be effective in cutting costs to a school district, perhaps your own district or some other district. If so, we would really like to hear directly from you about the specific approach chosen--why, how and when it was it chosen; how long did it take to implement; how soon did you recognize that it was successful in terms of saving costs; would you recommend it for other districts (why or why not); and would you have any suggestions as to how to make the implementation process easier or even more cost-effective for other districts?

We ultimately want to establish and coordinate a process for sharing energy conserving experiences and approaches among school districts and would also appreciate any ideas you might have on how we can best meet this objective as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will gladly accept any and all information about the approaches you know have been successful for particular school districts and we will share those energy efficiency success stories with readers in future issues of the School Executives Bulletin. Please send written materials to the attention of Maureen Lavare, NYSED, Facilities Planning, Room 510, Education Building, Albany, New York 12234, or fax them to her at 518 486-5918, or e-mail Barbara Boardman (bboardma@mail.nysed.gov).