| CONTACTS:
Ken Noah,
Superintendent
1331 NW Eastman Pkwy
Gresham, Oregon 97030
Phone: 503-618-2450
Michelle
Granger-Moore, Chief finance officer
Web site: http://district.gresham.k12.or.us/
Gresham-Barlow School District energy-conservation program glows
Over the course of the past school year, Gresham-Barlow SD avoided about $1.3 million in energy costs
-- enough to pay for about 22 teaching positions. Since the district first began its Resource Conservation Management program in 1999, it has avoided costs of more than $4.3 million, despite adding 140,000 square feet of space and 3,000 computers and absorbing electrical rate increases of 45 percent and natural gas rate increases of 125 percent.
The cost to implement and administer the program has been low.
Certainly, there is staff time involved,” said Michelle Moore, Gresham-Barlow’s chief finance officer. “There were facility and HVAC upgrades paid for by bond levies in 1996 and 2000, but we only dedicate one-quarter of a position to the effort. We spent about $40,000 to save $1.3 million.”
Gresham-Barlow began looking at its district energy use in 1998. It was actually garbage disposal led them down the path toward examining all energy expenditures. The district began to scrutinize its facilities and their energy use and built a database that tracked the amount of energy used, schedules for heating and cooling, and garbage disposal costs. The district worked with its District Resource Conservation Group as it planned and made changes to facilities.
“It was a real eye-opener,” said Moore of the group’s journey through resource conservation.
The district purchased, and later replaced, resource-conservation software. It added direct digital controls to its heating and cooling systems. It researched, experimented and monitored.
“One thing we did,” said Dave Cone, assistant facilities supervisor for the district, “is get every penny of the SB 1149 money that we could get. It means $180,000 a year for us for the next 10 years.”
Cone was referring to the public-purpose fund, created by a charge to PGE and PacifiCorp electricity customers totaling three percent of total revenues from sales, 10 percent of which is dedicated to schools that meet certain requirements within their utility service areas. The program is administered through the Oregon Department of Energy, and more than 800 schools are eligible to apply.
Today, Gresham-Barlow uses about 40 percent less energy than the national average for K-12 school buildings, which means it costs the district about 40 percent less to heat, cool, and light its buildings than average schools in the area.
One long-term dividend is that students are getting more involved in Gresham-Barlow’s resource conservation efforts and are becoming energy stewards: They’ve taken to flicking off lights when they leave rooms; they ensure that staff members correctly recycle paper; and they feed lunchroom waste to bins of worms to compost. Students at Hollydale Elementary have a watt-watcher-type program that tickets those who commit resource infractions.
As kids move up through the grades to high school, it becomes easier and easier for them to help the district conserve resources,” said Moore. “It becomes a way of life.”
The success of the resource-conservation program has boosted support for public education, too, as community members have learned about the district’s outstanding energy-conservation efforts through
The Oregonian and Gresham Outlook newspapers and on KINK FM radio.
Gresham-Barlow’s impressive energy-conservation achievements were recognized in 2005 by the EPA; 12 of Gresham-Barlow’s 19 facilities received Energy Star designation and proudly display Energy Star plaques. The EPA also recognized Gresham-Barlow with an Energy Star Leader award for improving the average energy efficiency of all its buildings by 30 points (47 percent) over their baseline and boosting the average efficiency of all their buildings into the top 25 percentile on EPA’s energy-performance rating system. |
