All of the Long Beach Unified School District’s (LBUSD) 84 schools have earned Energy Star Certification as a part of an eight-year conservation effort that has saved $29.1 million since 2003. Buildings that earn the certification use 35 percent less energy and generate 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than similar buildings across the nation.
The school district began its concerted conservation efforts back in 2003 when it hired two full-time energy managers and established energy policies and guidelines aimed at researching, measuring and reducing the usage of electricity, gas and water. The conservation effort has included stringent tracking of bills to spot anomalies and prevent waste, and site and meter audits with careful tracking via a software program. The school district corrected billing errors, modified behaviors through reminder notes to employees, calibrated equipment and time of use for optimal efficiency, and used new technology such as more efficient light bulbs and internet-controlled energy management systems.
According to a staff repot released at the Tuesday, Dec. 20 LBUSD Board of Education meeting, LBUSD now boasts 30 percent of the Energy Star-certified schools in California.
“To have 84 schools recognized is absolutely amazing. Most school districts have a big celebration if one or two schools are recognized,” said James Novak, LBUSD’s chief business and financial officer.
Aside from saving money, the conservation effort has prevented the emission of nearly 62,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of not driving 11,000 cars for one year (avoiding 15,000 miles of driving per car). It would take 1.5 million trees about 10 years to eliminate that amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Each newly certified school will receive a certificate to display in the front office.
