Going green helping to keep school districts in the black

When Henderson High School students signed on to help cut energy costs, their tools were modest: posters, chocolate candies, handmade bookmarks, paper covers for light switches.

They put up posters asking teachers to turn off lights, computers, copy machines, and other equipment when not needed, giving birth to "Power Down Fridays."

Teachers who obliged received candy and handwritten bookmarks saying, "Thanks."

The practice caught on and became part of the routine. The school reduced its energy usage by 22 percent last year, saving $60,000.

Officials used Henderson as an example in the West Chester district's 15 other schools, leading to a total reduction of about $261,000.

Connor Pollock, a senior this year, said that on Power Down Fridays, the hallways are "dark as a cave - it's wonderful. . . . I think it's great that we can save the school money."

As districts grapple with multimillion-dollar budget deficits for next year, West Chester and others that have been making energy savings for the last few years are now reaping the benefits. And their timing couldn't be better.

Pressed to wring savings out of every corner of their operations, many districts are quietly making changes to energy practices that can save six figures or more each year. And it's one of the few areas where reductions won't impact the classroom.

"It's giving us money - a lot of money - that we don't have to spend on energy, so it can go into education," said Scott Kennedy, director of operations in the Central Bucks School District, which expects to have about $1 million in energy savings this year.

The Council Rock School District has saved more than $9 million in fewer than five years by cutting energy consumption by 49 percent, said Thomas W. Schneider, the Bucks County district's supervisor of operations.

It has computerized its operations so that many systems can be automatically turned off. Supervisors, using laptops from home or the office, can control lighting, heating, and air-conditioning. Auditoriums and cafeterias, for example, don't get much air flow until just before a crowd arrives. Parking lot lights are turned on and off remotely.

Student and faculty "green teams" at schools keep consciousness high, said district science coordinator Renee Devlin. Children at some schools get teachers' permission to put green tape over light switches to keep them off for a time, she said, and put stickers on other switches reminding people to flick them off.

Administrators and the school board "are nothing but supportive" of student environmental initiatives, said Jeremy Wortzel, a junior at Council Rock North and the head of the Environmental Action Club there.

The district lowers energy costs in other ways, too, Schneider said. It recently locked in electricity and natural gas prices in advance, saving about $800,000.

Still, he said, most of the reductions come from "changed culture and habits. The engagement of the students and staff is what keeps the program alive and improving."

In Central Bucks, using computer control and automation for many operations and installing things like motion sensors that turn lights off when no one is in a room has paid off, facilities director Kennedy said, leading to both savings and rebates from Peco Energy.

The district also is getting $210,000 this year by signing up for the Demand Response program, which commits it to reducing its power usage on summer days.

Several districts and private schools are turning to solar energy.

Montgomery County's Lower Moreland district is installing a $3.2 million solar project at three buildings, at a savings of about $85,000 a year, plus an estimated $200,000 a year for selling some power to the grid, said Superintendent Marykay Feeley.

The Colonial district, also in Montgomery County, is partnering with a company to put panels on three buildings, for an estimated $110,000 annual savings, said operations director Terry Yemm.

Both projects could be completed by this fall.

In the Lower Merion district, a more modest solar panel project is under way at Penn Valley Elementary School, said Joseph Mudd, who teaches at the school and is on the district's Green Council. The school got a $25,000 grant, and students added $6,000 more through fund-raisers for a setup that will power the computer lab at the school with some power to spare.

The project came about after some students who wanted to promote alternative energy started writing letters to politicians, Mudd said.

Delaware County's Radnor School District saved about $21,000 a year in energy, paper, and ink by launching a largely paperless communication and pay system. Instead of newsletters in backpacks, parents get a weekly eMinder electronic summary for their school.

At the West Chester district's Henderson High, the energy-savings campaign has been so successful that habits are ingrained and the school Environmental Club has largely moved on to encouraging more recycling, said club adviser Peggy Hartzell.

That's fine with operations director Kevin Campbell. Recycling in the district, he said, besides being better for the environment, saved $40,000 last year.