By JOANIE BAKER HENDRICKS, The Daily News, jhendricks@bgdailynews.com/783-3234

 

Local schools are doing more than reducing their carbon footprint on the environment - they’re barely leaving a toe print compared to other schools nationally.

Nearly a third of the schools in Kentucky recognized for energy savings this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are housed in the Bowling Green and Warren County school systems.

The EPA recently unveiled the Energy Star Award winners, which are buildings that score a 75 or higher on a 100-point energy performance rating that measures efficiency compared to similar buildings nationwide. Of the 44 buildings designated in Kentucky as Energy Star winners, 14 are found within the two local school systems.

Jay Wilson, energy education manager for Warren County Public Schools, said this is the third year for some of the county’s 13 schools to be recognized, and attributes the success to the continued endeavors of the district’s comprehensive energy conservation plan that began in December 2003. Since the plan’s implementation to educate building users and maximize energy cost avoidance, the district has saved nearly $5 million in energy costs in six years, surpassing its original goal to save $3 million in eight years.

Buildings such as Plano and Alvaton elementary schools have been built since then to use as little energy as possible, with such initiatives as geothermal heating and cooling and use of day lighting and light sensors. Wilson pointed to the district’s continued efforts to increase efficiency as it is constructing what is believed to be the first two net zero school buildings in the country. With their solar panel energy sales, Richardsville and Bristow elementary schools are projected to produce more clean energy for sale to the Tennessee Valley Authority than what they will consume in regular energy, all due to their minimal usage designs.

For Warren County, Plano scored the highest with a 98, while Warren East Middle School reaped a 96 and Alvaton and Natcher elementary schools each received 95s. For Alvaton, this is the third year the school has won the award, following its successes in 2007 and 2008. Wilson said efforts are being made to make every school in the district Energy Star-worthy, and added that several are right on the cusp of receiving a 75 qualifying score. The energy manager pointed to Rich Pond Elementary School, which scored a 74, as an example of one that will reach the goal in the near future. Wilson said because Rich Pond is so crowded this year as it awaits the 2010 redistricting relief, several of the necessary mobile classrooms make it difficult for the school to be as energy efficient as possible.

But with time, Wilson said he would like to see every school receive the plaque recognizing its efforts.

“The great thing about this is we can take the dollars we avoided paying toward utility providers and put that money back into the classrooms for our students,” he said. “This should indicate to the public and the community that the leaders of schools are aggressively trying to be good stewards of tax dollars and we’re trying to save as much as we can by any method we can.”

For the first time this year, another Warren County facility also brought home an Energy Star Award as well. Wilson said the Warren County Transportation Department will be handed its first plaque for receiving a score of 75 on the 100-point scale.

For Bowling Green, Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School brought home top honors, receiving a 76 Energy Star energy performance rating.

The school, opened in 2005, was recognized for utilizing a computer-based energy management system, which allows the building to utilize heating or cooling only when it is occupied. Its endeavors to function from two high-efficiency boilers and use of natural light throughout the school also helped it shine like a star, according to Rickey Shive, facilities manager for the district.

T.C. Cherry Elementary School, which opened this fall, was designed to perform at an Energy Star level, according to Shive. The facilities manager said that once the energy manager software has been completely programmed, they will begin tracking data to apply for the 2010 Energy Star. Shive said several Bowling Green schools are very close to receiving a 75, and that an energy team has been established - with members from each school - to help create a districtwide energy policy that will help reduce consumption in all the schools.

Shive said the goal is to begin drafting the policy after winter break.

“If we’re saving energy, we’re being good stewards of the tax dollars, and with money as tight as it is, it’s the right thing to do and we feel good about it,” Shive said.

Shive said the Energy Star program requires each building to create an online portfolio with information including the building’s square footage, the student population, the number of computers on site, typical operation hours, the size of the parking lot and even the number of lights outside. Officials track their energy consumption throughout the year on the Web, and the EPA begins taking those numbers and formulating a comparison to similar facilities across the country.

The EPA first introduced the Energy Star Awards in 1992 as a voluntary partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency, according to its Web site, www.energystar.gov. The EPA suggests that schools spend around $6 billion in energy costs each year - more than what they spend on text books and computers combined. The top performing Energy Star-labeled schools are said to use 40 cents per square foot less in operating costs than average performers, according to the EPA.

Last year, Energy Star helped save $19 billion in energy costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equal to those distributed by 29 million vehicles.

Wilson said all schools are doing what they can to help the environment and secure an Energy Star label.

"We'll get there, we’re hunting every opportunity to get there," he said.

Energy ratings by the EPA

Scores are based on a 100-point scale that measures energy efficiency to similar buildings nationwide. A 75 is required to receive recognition, and 14 of Kentucky’s 44 school building designees are found locally.

Warren County Public Schools:

Warren County Transportation Dept., 75

Alvaton Elementary School, 95*

Briarwood Elementary School, 79*

Cumberland Trace Elementary School, 89*

Drakes Creek Middle School, 83*

Greenwood High School, 94*

Henry Moss Middle School, 84*

Natcher Elementary School, 95*

North Warren Elementary School, 88*

Oakland Elementary School, 82

Plano Elementary School, 98*

Rockfield Elementary School, 92

Warren Central Elementary School, 75

Warren East Middle School, 96*

 

Bowling Green Independent Schools:

Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School, 76

 

*Designed By Sherman Carter Barnhart