Nov. 15, 2011—Faculty and staff are leading the way for others while achieving big savings with energy-efficient behavior—and now those good habits are earning the district national recognition.

District officials are pictured accepting the Energy Pacesetter Award. Pictured (L-R): Energy Education Vice President for Marketing Jim Galletly, Superintendent Dr. Valerie Kelsey, Board President Sandra Beloncik, Energy Specialist Terri McCreadie and Business Administrator Mark Kellet.

Schalmont achieved a 32 percent cost avoidance totaling $795,290 in 36 months since contracting with Energy Education, a national energy conservation company.

District officials were presented with the company’s prestigious Energy Pacesetter Award during the Nov. 14 school board meeting.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to be saving money on energy expenses despite rising fuel costs and an economic downturn,” said Superintendent Dr. Valerie Kelsey. “This is the result of people changing the way they use energy in our district so the savings may be redirected to other needs.”

The award recognizes those organizations that are “setting the pace” in energy savings for others. It is designated only for programs achieving above-average savings, recognizing the support and cooperation of administration, faculty and staff organization-wide.

“Reaching this level of savings at this stage of the program is a significant achievement," said CEO and founder of Energy Education Dr. William S. Spears. “Schalmont has done an excellent job of implementing Energy Education’s organizational behavior-based approach to energy conservation and maintaining productive efforts at all levels of the organization. The superintendent and board, along with other administration, faculty and staff members are to be commended for clearly fulfilling their commitment to being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money and the environment.”

Since its inception, the program has helped change old habits and increase awareness amongst faculty, staff and students about the importance of energy efficiency.

The district’s energy specialist, Terri McCreadie, has been instrumental in the program’s success by reminding staff to turn off classroom lights, close window blinds and shut down computers, printers, document cameras, projectors, powerstrips and other peripherals at the end of the day.

“It’s not as easy as it seems to change old habits and it has certainly been an adjustment for our faculty and staff,” said Kelsey. “It’s an ongoing process.”

McCreadie regularly tracks energy consumption—including electricity, water, sewer, natural gas and fuel oil—using energy-accounting software.

She compares current energy use to a baseline period and calculates the amount of energy that would have been used had conservation and management practices not been implemented. By tracking consumption and analyzing energy use, she can quickly identify and correct areas that need immediate attention.

Energy costs have been successfully reduced through ongoing daily evaluation of energy needs in the district and the implementation of energy efficient cooling/heating schedules and shutdown schedules for weekends and holidays in the district’s schools.

In addition, the Bond 2007 capital project has replaced 52-year-old single pane windows, steam boilers and heating and ventilation systems with more efficient models.

Learn more about Energy Education and the district's energy conservation program.

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