August 1, 2017 -- The Green Apple Project recently completed a successful first year in the CH-UH City School District, saving energy through behavior changes. These energy savings equated to a significant amount of financial savings for the District.
Across all buildings, the District cut its energy use by 5% from April 2016 through June 2017. That represents a savings of nearly $85,000 in operating costs for the District.
Because the Green Apple Project is focused on saving energy through behavior changes, much of this success can be attributed to the collective effort of District staff.
"I am encouraged by the staff who have embraced our energy conservation measures,” said CH-UH District Energy Coach Ditte Wolin. “Awareness is the key, and changing habits can take time. But awareness of one thing can lead to another. Several staff members have told me that they are spending less on their electric bills at home by implementing suggestions they heard at work."
The District’s seven elementary school buildings had a combined 10% reduction in electric use from September 2016 through the end of the school year in May 2017.
CH-UH is hoping to increase awareness of the Green Apple program this upcoming school year and further reduce its energy use with a goal of 20% district-wide.
The District is also increasing its recycling programs to cut down on solid waste that is thrown out. Several schools increased their recycling with awareness programs last year, especially at Fairfax, Boulevard, Roxboro Elementary, and Heights High.
Roxboro Elementary started recycling in the lunchroom this past year, including milk cartons, juice containers, and others. The plan is to expand that initiative to several other schools this fall.
The Green Apple Project is a focus area of Goal 5 of the District’s Strategic Plan, which is aligned around operational resources. Objective 2 under this goal states that “district operations will be more sustainable and have reduced cost.”
The district-wide efforts to reduce energy consumption from April 2016 through May 2017 is equivalent to:
*Chart courtesy of EPS.gov