October is Energy Awareness Month
This month may be Energy Awareness Month but the Southeast Polk School District, as part of an overall effort to ensure good stewardship of financial and natural resources, takes energy conservation (using less) and energy efficiency (doing more with less) seriously year-round, year after year. The effort also includes educating our staff and students on how each of us can make a difference in energy conservation.
Recently, Southeast Polk Energy Manager Jamie Cole presented to the Jr. High staff during their weekly professional development. Jr. High Principal, Mr. Dailey, coordinated the session, designed to give some quick reminders of what the district expects from staff. As part of her role as Energy Manager, Jamie conducts energy audits of our buildings every month. By educating the staff on ways to save energy and holding everyone accountable, we all win!
Southeast Polk Energy Manager Jamie Cole presenting to the Jr. High staff.
Over the years, the District has replaced old lightbulbs with newer more energy-efficient LED bulbs. We’ve upgraded our Heating, Ventilation and Cooling (HVAC) systems throughout the district. But it’s not just big projects that make a difference.
“Everyone’s actions working together make a big impact on our energy savings,” Jamie shared.
The District works with Cenergistic, an energy conservation company that helps thousands of K-12 facilities nationally to reduce electricity, natural gas, and water consumption. Using advanced Cenergistic software and technology to analyze current and past utility data, we easily and accurately identify how each of our facilities is performing. This is achieved through:
“I’m excited to share that our efforts to date (since 2001 when we began our relationship with Cenergistic) have avoided over $10 million in energy costs. By changing our actions and making wise decisions, we’ve spent less on our electric, gas and water bills. Thanks to everyone for making our energy program a successful one!”
This figure provided through Cenergistic is calculated by comparing today’s expenditures to the expenditures from a base year that have been adjusted to current prices and weather. By doing this, we can see that our efforts result in less money spent in today’s dollars.
Southeast Polk is pleased to do our part in being good energy and financial stewards. Keep up the good work all!
