FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - For sustaining a consistent energy savings in the past year, the North Schuylkill School District received an EnergyStar award from Cenergistic Inc., an energy conservation company the district has retained to help reduce its energy consumption.
The "Award for Energy Stewardship" was presented during Wednesday's meeting of the North Schuylkill school board by Cenergistic marketing consultant K. Robert Hohl, who is also the retired executive director of the Berks County Intermediate Unit.
"It's really a pleasure to be here, since having sat on your side of the table for many, many years, I know how the public feels about saving money, and that's what you've done with this energy management program," Hohl said to the school board, which met in the elementary school cafeteria. "As a result, I believe you're approaching $180,000 in energy savings, which is great."
The program through Cenergistic assists school districts, higher education, large churches and others to save energy without purchasing new equipment, by closely monitoring usage and changing human habits, such as turning lights off in a room and shutting down computers when they will not be in use over time.
According to the company's website, its "Transformational Energy Management" process trains clients to implement behavioral and organizational changes that substantially reduce energy consumption without having to buy new equipment. The program is funded solely and rapidly by the savings it generates, allowing clients to redirect saved energy dollars to other priorities.
The Award for Energy Stewardship is an environmentally focused award to recognize the impact the school district is having on natural resources. Financial savings are not included in this award. The award recognizes the support and cooperation of administration, faculty and staff.
The school district began the program at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.
After the meeting, teacher Kelly Stone, who is the district's energy specialist, explained the process in saving energy.
"We do things like monitor energy use and make adjustments," Stone said. "In the library, an air handler was running at 5 a.m. and it shouldn't have been. I talked to maintenance and they got it scheduled so that it is off. We look any place where we're wasting energy and then get it taken care of."
Stone said there are other ways to save energy at different times of the year.
"We zone schedule the school so everything doesn't come on at the same time," Stone said. "In the winter time, the rooms that are the coldest come on first, and the rooms that are the warmest we do last. Also, for now because it is not as cold, we have the system come on at 7 a.m. In the winter, I might have it come on at 6:30 a.m."
Stone also explained a poster that was presented with the plaque award that explained what the school district has saved in units other than money.
"We're reducing our carbon footprint. We have reduced (the carbon footprint) over the past year to be equivalent to removing 110 cars off the road or having 16,000 trees planted," Stone said. "We've reduced our energy consumption by 23 percent in a year and in a way it's free money since we haven't changed anything except our habits."