Nine School Districts Receive Energy Star Label
EarthVision Environmental News
06/23/00
WASHINGTON, June 23, 2000 - Nine school districts from across the US became the first to receive the Energy Star label for schools, a designation awarded to schools for efficient energy use.
Energy Star is a program run by both the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Energy Star label is given to buildings with energy performance in the top 25 percent of their peer group. In addition to awarding the Energy Star label, DOE and EPA work with the schools to help them make the energy efficiency changes necessary in order to earn the label. This year, $4.7 million will be awarded for the EnergySmart School campaign. With matching funds from the states a total of $9.4 million will be available to school districts to help them lower their energy costs.
A typical school pays about $400,000 a year in utility bills, DOE reported. Through building improvements, better operations and maintenance practices those bills can be lowered by as much as 25 percent.
The first nine school districts, with a total of 150 schools, to earn the Energy Star designation are:
San Diego Unified School District, California;
Academy School District 20, Colorado;
Boulder Valley Public Schools, Colorado;
New Haven Public Schools, Connecticut;
Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas;
Columbia Public Schools, Missouri;
McAllen Independent School District, Texas;
Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin; and
Marion Public Schools, West Virginia.
For more information on the Energy Star label for schools program, see below. For more information about DOE's EnergySmart Schools campaign, visit http://www.eren.doe.gov/energysmartschools.