Energy reduction in schools, just as elsewhere is a matter of two aspects, which were the focus of the Webcast “Reducing Energy Consumption in Schools”, financial resources, and teaching (Young, Turner, and Pierce). Those aspects are largely interrelated, focusing on which can lead to other benefits, including environment and health. The following report will attempt to summarize the webcast and the practices that were discussed for reducing energy consumption.
The importance of reducing energy consumption can be seen from the perspective of scarce resources. The budget allocated to schools is limited and they are shrinking each year, and thus, the administration faces the objective of doing more with less. Accordingly, the same focus is concerned with scarce energy resources, and the way they can be conserved. The impact of such aspect on learning, in that regard, is a matter of differentiating between the priorities of reducing spending and administrative costs, and the core mission of schools. That is, the less the administration is concerned with energy, the more it spends on teaching and learning.
The webcast focuses simply on the best practices used in reducing energy in schools. The division between best practices and district best practices is mainly formal, as they cover the same points, which might mainly differ in the metrics used and goals established. A more important distinction that was outlined in the webcast was between the behavioral practices and equipment upgrades, all of which can be governed under a single energy policy. From a personal perspective, it can be stated that behavioral practices are better aligned with the goal of costs reduction in school. However, in a long-term perspective, the practices which include changing equipment might prove to be a solid investment that will justify itself, and at the same time, prove to be more sustainable and cost-efficient in the long term. The implementation of an energy policy have many common elements, the main focus of which is establishing a baseline for comparison, either through and audit to an initial assessment, and using the baseline to measure the goals, the objectives, and improvements against. The data is important in that matter, which constitutes the basis for comparison as well as a tool to show the direction of future goals. Translating the achievements into saved money might be the most effective way of showing accomplishment sin energy reduction.
The behavioral policy covers many interesting and easy to achieve practices, such establishing a policy for switching off the light, establishing a heating and cooling limits, and computer use standards. Such practices can be integrated into a formal document following might be monitored through a specific committee that will make sure the established goals are achieved. The practices related to new equipments are more costly, but nevertheless, they might be more efficient, considering that they will conform to the latest standards, engineering codes, and state laws for sustainable design. In order to reduce expenditures, the changes in equipment might be integrated into a planned budget, which might implemented according to several stages, each of which will be tailored for the budget of a specific school.
Both practices behavioral and equipment –related can be integrated in to a single policy for which goals will be established, e.g. reducing energy consumption by 10% by the end of the year. Examples from district best practices suggest using a three phase approach in which energy will be saved in stages, starting from behavior management, which is the easiest to implement and which does not require additional costs.
Work Cited
Young, Roger, Jason Turner, and Sue Pierce. “Reducing Energy Consumption in Schools”. 2010. Facility Masters Webcast Series. Ed. Kornegay, David. Web.