Energy Star helping some schools reduce electric use

Many shoppers for large appliances seek out the familiar Energy Star logo on yellow-and-black labels to see whether a washer or dryer would save them money on electricity costs.

It's less well known that Energy Star, a federal program, also runs a voluntary rating system for schools and school districts to help raise awareness of the potential for energy savings on a larger scale.

Of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts, about 50 participate in the program; 10 are in the Philadelphia area. Seven New Jersey districts, including one in South Jersey, participate by submitting power-usage figures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Mid-Atlantic region recently cited the Upper Merion School District in Montgomery County for reducing energy consumption by more than 30 percent since the program started there four years ago. According to the EPA, only about a dozen of the nation's 15,000 participating school districts have hit that level.

Energy reduction at several Upper Merion school buildings has neared 50 percent, the EPA said. Two - Candlebrook and Bridgeport Elementary Schools - had Energy Star ratings of 98 and 95 percent, respectively, meaning they were more energy-efficient by those percentages than all schools in the program nationwide.

The district, which spent about $1.6 million on energy in the year before starting the program, has saved approximately $400,000 annually, or about 25 percent. It did so largely by having a staffer monitor and modify energy use via a computer system linking the schools to his laptop.

"The theory in many institutions is that utilities were a fixed cost that you had minimal control over," said Fred Remelius, Upper Merion's buildings and grounds supervisor and resident energy guru. "What we've shown is that it's not a fixed cost, it's something that you can control."

The achievement is all the more noteworthy because the 3,800-student Upper Merion district did not hire an outside consultant to help it achieve the savings, as many do.

"They've done a great job," said Andrew Kreider, an EPA employee based in Philadelphia who works with school districts. "And they've done it on their own; that should inspire others to see what they can do to save energy."