EPA's National Building Competition
The Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy as part of the Erie School District, has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment. In the spirit of popular weight-loss competitions, Collegiate Academy will battle it out against hundreds of other teams from buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's ENERGY STAR program.
In the competition, Collegiate is one of 7 PA schools, one of 62 schools entered, and one of 245 buildings overall. Competitors will measure and track their building's monthly energy consumption using EPA's ENERGY STAR online energy tracking tool called Portfolio Manager, make improvements to their building's energy performance, and share their progress. Of the initial pool of 245 competitors, a small group of buildings will be selected as finalists in July. Among the finalists, the building that demonstrates the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy-use intensity will be recognized as the winner on November 2, 2011.
Since our first energy audit in January of 2007, Collegiate's Energy Star Rating has improved from 23/100 to 75/100. This has happened primarily due to behavior changes by the faculty, staff, and students. We open blinds to use more natural lighting and turn off unnecessary electrical lights. We power down computers, unplug TV's and vending machines, and control the heat in each classroom. We are preparing to apply for Energy Star Certification. But we know we can do better.
Mrs. Grande, Public Relations Director for the school district, met with the AP Environmental Science class on May 5, 2011. She informed us that the National Building Competition press release had been distributed. She is looking into additional media coverage for the competition. She suggested that we put the information on the district's channel 8 and schedule a press conference.
Competition Student Committees (Green Team and Advanced Placement Environmental Science)
Electricity
Nicole, Tori, Luong, and Mrs. Petri met with Mr. Cunningham, our Chief Engineer, to discuss further energy saving strategies on April 12, 2011. The following are the new measures we agreed to implement:
- Custodians will turn off 1/2 of the hallway lights after cleaning.
- Turn off 1/2 of the cafeteria lights during the day when lunches are not in session.
- Investigate replacing the T-12 lights in the cafeteria with T8's.
- Continue to remind everyone to turn off lights when they leave a room.
Heating
Ramses, Laura, and Mrs. Petri met with Mr. Cunningham on April 13, 2001 to discuss better heating measures. Here is what we came up with:
- We need to look into waether stripping for the doors, especially those on the promenade.
- We will inform the faculty that if their room is too warm, do not open windows, call Mr. Cunningham and he will adjust their thermostat.
- Mr. Cunningham told us that we are getting a new hot water boiler in May that will save a lot of energy. He will not have to fire up the big boiler just to heat water in the building.
Appliances
Nikitha and Kirsten are looking into TV and computer usage. We have addressed this but need to reduce uasge even further. They are testing the appliances with wattage meters to see how much electricity they use when turned on and turned off. They are contacting teachers to remind them to shutdown their computers and unplug their TV's at the end of the day and especially on weekends.
Student Action Committee
Meredith, Thanh, and Taylor have recruited one or two students in each homeroom to be "energy watchdogs" and communicate messages from the green team to the students and homeroom teachers. They have obtained emails and set up Facebook accounts for their group of students. They currently are asking teachers if they have a powerstrip for their electronic media that they can use to plug everything into and turn off at the end of the day.
Banners and Posters
Mary, Concetta, Heather, and Ellie are designing banners that will be displayed in front of the office, library, and cafeteria. They will also place posters in the cafeteria. Mr. Czulewicz's Media Arts class will make them for us.
Pep Rally
We will have a pep rally during all three lunches on Tuesday, May 24th. Meredith, Taylor, Sarah, Iulia, Tiffany, Dani, and Danielle are planning a Jeopardy game, music, and prizes for the day. Jeopardy categories are all about saving energy. Prizes will be treats and boxes of compact fluorescent bulbs donated by the local utility company.
John has set up a twitter account and is sending messages each time the Advanced Placement Environmental Science class meets.
Ian, Janelle, and Richard are in the process of setting up a Facebook page so more people can learn about what our school is doing.
Videos
Katie, Nick, and Tori are taking videos. Nick just filmed the class washing our solar panels on the roof of the building. We will be uploading them to the green team website.
Letter Writing
Sarah is customizing the letter template and gathering addresses of government officials, community partners, and other individuals we would like to send messages to.
Photography
Laura is our photographer. We will upload her pictures onto the green team website as they become available.
King TV
Edvina and Zeinab have scheduled an interview on the morning announcements on May 23rd. They will discuss the National Building Competition and announce the pep rally to be held the following day.
Environmental Jeopardy
The Collegiate Green Team conducted a jeopardy game at all 3 lunches to raise awareness about environmental issues. Five teams of 2 competed for prizes of t-shirts, pencils, rulers, CFL's, and cookies. The categories were: Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources; Energy Conservation; Energy Usage in Countries; Units of Measure; and Climate Change. Meredith was the Mistress of Ceremonies and our mascot, "Lucy theLight Bulb", was introduced.
