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St. Louis Park Public Schools' energy savings program put the district among the elite in such efforts.

The school district was among about 25 districts nationwide that received an Energy Star Leader Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Superintendent Debra Bowers said.

In the past year, the district has reduced its energy usage by more than 10 percent and has avoided more than $90,000 in energy costs, said Energy Efficiency Coordinator Anne Anderson at a Dec. 18 school board meeting.

In implementing its energy savings plan, district staff wanted to reduce energy use by at least 10 percent and receive an energy star label for at least one building, Anderson said.

"Well, we overachieved on that one," she said.

The program started off slow, with just 3 percent energy savings in its first quarter, Anderson said. However, energy savings have increased each quarter of the program.

The EPA started its Energy Star Challenge last March, in which it encouraged building owners to reduce energy use by at least 10 percent.

"We're building a better world 10 percent at a time," said Energy Star Program Manager Audrie Washington with the EPA's Chicago office, who presented the award.

The EPA compared similar buildings across the country and rated their energy usage reductions on a scale of 1 to 100. Buildings with a score of at least 75 or higher are eligible for the Energy Star label. School districts earning the Energy Star Leader Award achieved energy savings district wide, not just in individual buildings, Washington said.

"You've done a great job and we want to commend you for doing that," she said.

An initiative called Schools for Energy Efficiency has been instrumental in helping St. Louis Park and other Minnesota districts earn the award, Washington said.

"Their efforts have certainly put Minnesota on the map in terms of the number of leaders in the state of Minnesota," she said. "In fact, there are more Energy Star Leaders in the state of Minnesota than in any individual state throughout the country, and they all happen to be school districts."

A total of nine Minnesota school districts will receive the designation, said Janet Streff with the Minnesota Department of Commerce's State Energy Office.

Representatives of Schools for Energy Efficiency came to Streff's department in 2005 with their ideas for energy reduction, she said. The U.S. Department of Energy agreed to provide a grant.

"We were able to give some smaller grants to the schools to build the team spirit and get some results," Streff said. "It's federal, it's state, it's local, and there's no other way to get it done."

Bowers encouraged homeowners to work to reduce energy use as well.

"Remind the kids to turn off the TV and turn off the lights as they're leaving their rooms," she said. "It works at home just like it works in the school district."

The EPA estimates that if every building owner in the country would accept the challenge of reducing energy use by 10 percent, the resulting reduction in greenhouse emissions would be equal to that of eliminating 15 million vehicles from the roads and would save $10 billion in utility costs, Washington said. In school districts, money saved can be redirected to other expenses such as textbooks and teacher salaries.

"You've done a great job, so keep doing what you're doing, and I understand there's more to come," Washington said.
 
http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2006/12/22/news/sl21energy.txt