Energy-conservation

Energy Management is a top priority of the Beaverton School District, and the first step in a good Energy Management Program is to make a commitment. Here at the BSD, commitment from the top is reflected in our energy conservation policy , and in our administrative regulations that support the action behind the policy.

Click the following link for a recent presentation on BSD's Energy Management Program .

Beaverton students are learning about energy; where it comes from, how it''''s made, why it''''s important, and how we can conserve it. Education is the first step to spreading awareness about this key resource! Not only can we save resources and create less pollution, but we can save dollars for the District''''s already tight budget.

	The Energy and Resource Conservation Department sends out Energy and Water Use Performance Scorecards on a monthly basis. The scorecard reflects District-wide utility consumption information and the number of schools participating in the Energy Star and Oregon Green Schools programs.
	The Energy & Resource Conservation Department encourages all schools to participate in the Lights OUT effort. Lights OUT asks you to: Observe when lights can be turned off, U turn the lights out, or Tell us where lights are on when they shouldn't be (x4223). Be sure your school has taken the Lights OUT Pledge! Learn more here .
	Were you recently upgraded to a smart meter at home? All of our schools were too. And with this new technology, we are now able to monitor our real time energy-use data through software called Energy Expert . Since we can "see" our electricity use in 15-minute intervals, we can tell if our schools are, for example, shutting down at night and over the weekends. The Beaverton School District community is invited to review their school's interval metering data. Contact Matt Lichtenfels (x4223) for account access, and view a video by Stoller's John Wickham on how he uses the tool to see the energy Stoller saves on their bi-monthly Dim Days!
	Electricity and natural gas bills help us track the cost of energy and compare that cost with other years. Energy costs are often difficult to compare, because the cost of energy frequently changes.
	Energy can be best compared among years by simply looking at consumption . We can keep track of schools that are using more energy due to construction and are able to tell when energy use has decreased in the District.
	Did you know that school buildings can get an Energy Star rating just like your refrigerator? Twenty-nine of our schools have earned this rating--the most of any school district in Oregon! We have also been Named Energy Star Top Performer in 2010 in two categories: reducing total energy consumption by more than 10% , and earning an average ENERGY STAR score of 89 out of 100 (i.e., BSD’s energy performance is among the top 11% of all school districts in the country).
	Many of our schools entered Portland General Electric''''s Save More, Matter More campaign in the Fall of 2008. Commerical customers of PGE joined the campaign by publicly pledging to save energy on their website. A drawing took place, and five customers, including our very own Greenway Elementary , won a $3,000 lighting retrofit! We participated again in 2009/10 and THREE of our schools won again! Congratulations to Barnes, Cedar Park, and McKay!
	Oregon Green Schools is a non-profit that recognizes schools who are committed to being environmentally friendly. Over half of our schools are certified as Oregon Green Schools! As part of the application process, schools are required to conduct a waste audit of their garbage. A newer component to the application process is an energy walk-through with students. The goal is to make more energy-aware students who understand how energy is used in their school and to identify ways of saving energy.

Energy Questions? Contact:

Matt Lichtenfels, Energy & Resource Conservation Program Manager