Schools do their part to save energy and water
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Conejo Valley Unified School District is knee-deep in talks with an energy-conservation consulting company that by July will transform the district into an energy- and water-saving machine.

Energy Education, Inc. has exercised its program in 878 districts in 46 states, including successful runs in Las Virgenes, Moorpark and Simi Valley unified school districts.

"It's their well-trained engineers combined with experience on how humans use energy in school districts," said Jeff Baarstad, assistant superintendent of business services. "They've come up with a cookbook with a bunch of ways to conserve . . . hopefully without making people uncomfortable or inconvenienced."

Many of the ideas involve changing out parts or rethinking lighting schemes, heating and airconditioning, watering schedules and schools' pools and pumps. The company looks at what systems are running when they don't need to be and integrating automatic schedules.

But a large part of the program is simple: educating people to turn off lights when they leave a room or to turn off the computer if it's not going to be used for more than 30 minutes.

This aspect requires a new position at the district--an energy educator.

"It's a full-time job for someone who is hired to do nothing but work with their engineers and consultants to implement all this," Baarstad said.

The district will also buy software that downloads the energy bills at each school site.

The software will let the district know whether its energysaving goals are working, Baarstad said. Particular patterns at schools can be noted and building defects or underground water leaks can be detected before they cause more serious problems, he said.

The Energy Education, Inc. services will cost the district about $1.2 million over five years, but the company guarantees the district will break even in the first four years.

"They aren't cheap with the job and the software and fees," Baarstad said. "We've been looking at it for two years, thinking maybe we could do these things ourselves. But after talking with other districts--we got references from 20 different districts--we decided this was worth it."

Edward Froehner of Energy Education, Inc. said many districts are nervous despite the advantages.

"Why doesn't everybody come to us?" Froehner asked. "It's a 100 percent--guaranteed program for a district to save 20 to 30 percent and put it back in their programs. People think the chemistry of their district is going to be messed, that we are going to slap someone's wrist for leaving a light on. That's not how it works."

With energy conservation kicking in at all 35 district sites, Energy Education, Inc. is estimating that CVUSD will save about $8 million over 10 years.

But the money won't be saved for a rainy day. The district staff has decided that 100 percent of the savings will go to school instructional costs, divided per student among all the schools.

"Beyond facts of saving money, we are getting to plow back what we get requested most from principals, which is student-instruction money," Baarstad said. "That's the best part."

Froehner said that CVUSD is atypical because most districts put the money back into their general funds.

"What Conejo is offering . . . is unique, and I think very generous," he said.