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District-wide, school electrical costs decreased by over $154,000 last fiscal year as a result of the increased awareness of energy usage.
Now the month-long contest is back, and the ante has been upped. Last year, schools were challenged to cut their energy usage by 10 percent; this year the charge is to lop off an addition 5 percent of energy usage. In the way the Stanley Cup is passed around, the Conservation Challenge Grand Trophy now stationed at Whiting Lane will be bequeathed to this year's winner.
On Monday, Whiting Lane Elementary School Principal Nancy DePalma was already making noise when she noticed that all the lights in the school's main office were on at noon, when there was plenty of natural light filtering into the office.
For a competitive edge, Morley Elementary School has switched from using electrical pencil sharpeners to manual ones, Principal Ellen Stokoe said, and teachers have designated conservation jobs for students in the classroom.
"We're just really excited about the savings we've made, which for students is concrete," Stokoe said. "When they see kilowatt hours, with younger students, it doesn't always resonate, but they understand dollar signs."
Advocates of the contest hope that, while less novel this year, it will again use competitiveness to foster energy awareness and creative methods of conserving electricity.
Assistant Superintendent of School Administration Timothy Dunn said that the conservation committee "struggled" to decide whether to run the same contest again, but ultimately decided in favor of a second year.
"We think it was a good program and we could get some added benefit from it," he said.
Another impetus for repeating last year's challenge was "slippage" in behavior, Dunn said. Last year, computers and lights were religiously turned off as the contest ran, and miniature refrigerators were dumped in favor of larger, more energy-efficient ones. Now, Dunn said, some Smart Boards and lights have been left on in schools.
Last year, principals were instructed to leave notes on electronics that had not been switched off. This year, stickers with the Conservation Challenge logo will be provided to tag the offending object.
"Please turn me off," the stickers read.
"They will probably want to turn me off," DePalma joked of her anticipated barrage of reminders to conserve electricity.
In addition to the November energy challenge, the school district will be also bringing forth new initiatives for source reduction, such as cutting down on the amount of paper used in schools, and boosting recycling, Dunn said.
